A compilation of the best images from the past seven days. The preseason is well underway. Check out some old faces on new teams, now retired stars back in the limelight, and a game-winning shot courtesy of Jimmy Butler in this week’s NBA photos above.

Beasley had come to the Grizzlies’ camp on a non-guaranteed deal and his chances of making the opening night roster were still uncertain. The opportunity to accept a lucrative one-year deal with Shanghai proved too difficult to pass on.

Beasley hadn’t been well enough to travel with Memphis on its current two-game preseason road trip, and as one team official said, “That was going to make it much harder for him to make the team.”

Once the CBA season ends in March, Beasley will be free to sign with an NBA team.

“I Was Marbury” is the tale of the former Knicks and Nets guard and the 2011-12 Beijing Ducks, the team he led to a championship (we were hoping the play would be called “The Shoot-First Point Guard”).

According to SI.com, “The play’s director, Zhou Wenhong, told Chinese media that the main theme of the play will be ‘never give up’ and will incorporate choreographed basketball moves with dance. Marbury, however, describes the play’s story in grander terms, saying in a press conference the play focuses on ‘Sino-US relations.’”

There’s more: Marbury will only appear occasionally and guests like former NBA players Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi will show up on stage.

The Chinese don’t say goodbye. Instead, the most commonly used phrase for an appropriate parting is zài jiàn—or zeh weh, in a Shanghai dialect—which literally translates to “meet again.” In China, no end is permanent. There is always another chance, another time.

Yao Ming was only 30 years old when he officially ended his basketball-playing career. In the short time the gentle 7-6 giant bounced a basketball, he experienced unprecedented highs and disappointing lows; he became one of the most recognizable faces on the planet, and then quickly fizzled out.

Amidst it all—being the No. 1 overall pick, the first draft pick from China, an All-Star, a 20/10 player, the face of the Houston Rockets and China—Yao maintains that the most memorable moment of his career occurred on April 11, 2011, during a game against the Dallas Mavericks that he didn’t even dress for.

“That was my last game,” says Yao, who’d appeared in five games earlier that season. “I didn’t play because I was hurt already. Usually I just walk down, but that time I was thinking, I know this is my last time…I will miss this court! I didn’t tell the fans, or anybody that I was retiring. Only the Rockets management knew that this was my decision. They had to move on and know that I was out of the picture.”

Move on. It’s easier said than done, but Yao took the initiative by moving on himself. At 33, Yao seems to be at peace with his decision, at peace with the glories that lifted him up and the injuries that grounded him. He has moved on to owning a basketball team in China, his hometown Shanghai Sharks, and to engaging in a variety of business ventures back in his homeland. But he remains most excited about his upcoming project, the NBA Yao School, which will launch in Beijing later this year, where he and his team will be coaching kids in an after-school program to learn life skills through basketball.

Yao recently sat down with SLAM in Shanghai and reflected on his playing career and his post-playing life.

SLAM: Why did you open the Yao School?

Yao: I wanted to provide a service for kids after school. The education system [in China] has been focused only on academics. I feel that sports are equally important. Sports can provide a social experience before a child steps into the real world. The idea was for an after-school program where kids can relax their minds from school and have a chance to learn to become a team member. Concepts like teamwork, communication, cooperation or leadership can’t just be learned from paper; you have to experience them. And that’s what Yao School is here for. Basketball skills are the strategy to put that experience together.

SLAM: What are your goals, in terms of basketball and culturally, for this program?

Yao: This is character education. For years, kids in China have been isolated. Isolated at home, because of the one-child policy, and in school, where everyone is worried about [grades]. I want to take them out of that element and give them a chance to play as a group. A future career cannot be done in isolation; you have to work with somebody.

SLAM: What is your fondest memory of your international career?

Yao: Playing in the Beijing Olympics in 2008 was a special moment. And I still remember the first time I ever put my national team uniform on. It was the China junior team in ’97. That moment was so enjoyable; I spent a lot of time looking at myself in the mirror! I didn’t realize there was a long journey ahead for me.

SLAM: You retired as one of the most popular players of all time, and definitely the most successful Asian player. When you look back at your career, do you feel that you achieved the goals you had when you started off?

Yao: Honestly, I feel that the American players probably dream much bigger than this, but my situation was that I never dreamt to play in the NBA. I just hoped to play on the Chinese national team. The NBA seemed too far for me when I was a kid. Being drafted by the Rockets was already beyond my goals. But of course when you get there, you want to set a higher goal, you don’t want to stop, you want more. So, maybe I broke even. Maybe I should’ve gone a little bit further, but my injuries slowed me down. But you can’t change that fact. And you can’t live in regret.

SLAM: Do you have any regrets? Is there anything else that you wish you had achieved?

Yao: Not many…I think I did everything possibly I could. And if I went any harder, I would have probably broken my ankles a couple years earlier [laughs].

SLAM: If you, Tracy McGrady and all of the Rockets had been healthy in your prime, how good do you think you guys could’ve been?

Yao: First of all, there’s no such thing as “if”…I think we had our chance but we missed it. Whether we regret it or not, that is a fact, and we just need to learn from the experience and move on. Otherwise how can we go to teach kids: “Hey, you have to pull yourself together after this loss and move on,” you know?

SLAM: Was there one particular year when you thought that you were good enough to go all the way and win a Championship?

Yao: Yes, a couple of years. In ’06-’07, I felt really good about myself. I had rehabbed well from a fracture, had a good summer with the national team to get back to shape and I won Player of the Month the first month of the season. But then my knees broke right before Christmas. After that I never really had a complete season. My last full year [’08-’09] was good, too. Even though Dikembe [Mutombo] got hurt in the first round and I got hurt in the second round, it was a good year for me.

SLAM: Was there any one moment that made you decide to retire?

Yao: I was mentally stressed from the injuries and the recovery process. It’s hard to imagine waking up every morning, going to rehab for two to three hours, and then still going to practice after that…That’s really hard. You worry about getting hurt again. Once or twice it’s OK, but then to get hurt three or four times a couple of years in a row? You lose that confidence, and when you lose confidence, you cannot compete at that level. I thought I wasn’t at that level anymore. Of course, I was concerned about my future life…[Points at his feet and laughs] I didn’t want to end up in a wheelchair.

SLAM: You’ve said you still follow the NBA closely, so you’ve noticed the League’s shift toward small ball. If you were still healthy and still at the top of the game, how do you think you’d fit in now?

Yao: I’ve thought more than once about how I would compete in today’s basketball if I was still healthy and in my best shape. I think, if you can make enough free throws, or create enough free throws, you can still be effective. Otherwise, you probably need to run with the small ball. Someone like Shaquille O’Neal could create enough free throws for himself. He was very dominant and could change the pace of the game with that. But, the shooting skill today is so incredible. The three-pointer is so easy today. I think they should extend the line even another meter farther [laughs]. The defense is much more stressed by the range. And obviously, players with size like me would find it much more difficult to guard a shooter. So…[today’s NBA] definitely would not be easy for me.

The game has changed. Basketball is a form of knowledge. Sometimes I compare basketball skill to war weapons. Think about war weapons through history. In the beginning, if people wanted to knock down some big towns they needed those big machines, like catapults, and they were huge. Consider that they are centers. And then came the fire guns. When the fire guns first came out how big were they? [Motions with his hands] They were huge. And then they became smaller and smaller, and now the pistol is only that size [shows the size of his palm]. That is the skill and shape of a player, you see. The first nuclear weapons, the first missiles were so big, but now, they can be very small. Consider a player’s skill and body like a weapon. The weapon has gone from huge to small, but their damage is the same or even greater now. The point guards are the smaller and more powerful weapon nowadays. And they are mobilized. More mobile. Easy to transport, easy to ship somewhere, easy to sneak into somewhere like cutting into the lane. That’s what I think.

SLAM: You inspired so many people in China and beyond to take up basketball, to learn the game. When you are inducted in the Hall of Fame, how do you want your legacy to be remembered?

Yao: I’m too young to be in the Hall of Fame. But, well, I want people to think of me as a basketball man, not just a basketball player. Of course I was a basketball player in my career, but after that, I still continue to work with basketball and to spread the sport. And I want many people to benefit not from me, but from that sport.

Retired NBA center Yao Ming is now towering over college students in China — Yao, a third-year student at Jiao Tong University, wishes he could live on campus. Per the NY Times (via Deadspin): “Carrying a lunch prepared by his wife, Ye Li, a 6-foot-3 former player in China’s professional league, Mr. Yao drives more than an hour to Jiao Tong University, where he sits through his required courses in the economics and management department. According to one Chinese news report, Mr. Yao would prefer to live in the dorms with his 20-year-old classmates, a move that would save time and energy, ‘but the beds are too small.’ … ‘When I signed my first professional contract with the Shanghai Sharks at age 17, I promised my parents that, after my basketball career ended, I would pursue my studies at the university level,’ Mr. Yao told reporters in Shanghai. Now in his third year at Jiao Tong University, Mr. Yao is less than two years away from fulfilling that promise. It hasn’t always been easy. The 33-year-old can hardly walk anywhere on campus without being swarmed by fans and reportedly complained once that one of his professors was a former high school classmate. But true to his word, Mr. Yao has diligently continued studying, taking English, journalism and finance electives in addition to his required classes. On his first day of studies in the fall of 2011, Mr. Yao told reporters: ‘I feel good today, but a little tired, since I haven’t been in class for over 10 years. I am rusty.’ [...] In 2013, he was promoted to the National Committee of the C.P.P.C.C. (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body to the local government) alongside military officers, government officials, state-recognized religious leaders and other prominent figures. It is unclear whether Yao’s political responsibilities pose an impediment to his studies, but last week he was photographed in Chicago accompanying Vice Prime Minister Liu Yandong, China’s highest-ranking female politician, to a Chicago Bulls game.The two shared one of the arena’s spectator boxes with Scottie Pippen, the former Chicago Bull; Chicago’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel; and other notables.”

The New York Knicks, LA Clippers and Yao Ming’s Shanghai Sharks are all in play for World Peace’s services next season.

Per ESPN, Yahoo! Sports and the LA Times:

Knicks coach Mike Woodson said Sunday he welcomed a potential addition of World Peace. “I know his name has been surfacing out there,” Woodson said in Las Vegas, where New York has a summer league team competing. “I can coach any player. I coached guys from 18-, 19-, 20-year-old young men, and built a team in Atlanta, and that’s tough for a first-time coach. So I experienced that, and I don’t think there’s a player I can’t coach if he’s willing to be coached. … If anybody comes to this team, they’ve got to understand it’s all about team, man. It’s not about individuals here, it’s not about me as a coach. It’s about the New York franchise trying to win an NBA title. If you understand that, then we’ve got a chance. I like his skill sets a lot. I think a lot of teams have liked his skill sets over the years. He does a little bit of everything.” [...] “I want to do something unique and fun,” World Peace said. “…China has over a billion people. It’s fun. I want to be adventurous. I’ve been thinking about it.”

“Of course I’m interested in Clippers,” World Peace texted on Sunday. “I have to meet them first.” The Clippers also are interested in speaking with World Peace, said NBA executives who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Four NBA teams have reportedly inquired about the 33-year-old forward, and the Knicks are believed to be the favorites to land him (even though, a couple of days ago, MWP said he’s moved past his boyhood dream of playing in New York).

Metta World Peace is on the down slope of his remarkable, 14-year NBA career. He averaged 12.4 points, five rebounds and 1.6 steals in 75 games for the Lakers last season. He’s now looking – all over the world — for an adventure and to have fun with whatever basketball may be left in him.

The starting five checked out of the game at halftime, were each member was patted on the back by Coach Yao Ming and Assistant Coach Tracy McGrady as they headed to the bench. Joakim Noah, Metta World Peace, Luis Scola, George Hill and Kyle Lowry—the not-entirely-American starting five of the team erroneously named “Team America All Stars”—were then replaced for the third quarter by a bunch of elementary school kids. On the other side, the Chinese National team were replaced by their mini-mes, too. On the “American” bench, John Wall and Ricky Rubio watched in street clothes while McGrady enthusiastically coached the 10-year-olds. Metta joined in to give a pep-talk, too. All this was happening while Chinese cheerleaders dressed like one of the Mario Brothers danced in the middle of the floor and the crowd of several thousand chanted McGrady’s name like he had just been named Finals MVP.

Wait, wait, I’m getting ahead of myself here. Sorry. That’s what happens when you’ve just witnessed the zaniest exhibition game on this side of the globe (or any side of the globe, for that matter) to kick off the NBA offseason. On July 1, the Yao Ming Foundation organized its third charity game between the Chinese National Basketball Team and a group of Yao’s super-friends (from his time at Houston, mostly) playing under the Team America moniker against Team China, featuring the host country’s finest players. With little expectations, I set out to witness this event at the MasterCard stadium in Beijing, the same stadium that hosted the 2008 Olympics gold medal game.

Yao has held this event twice in the past six years, with Steve Nash and Baron Davis amongst those to have starred in it in the past. But as far as I know, this year was the “biggest” show. It had everything. Drama (Joakim Noah’s clutch defense), excitement (Noah on the offensive end, Tracy McGrady coaching) and World Peace (Metta). And all this for a good cause, to support the primary school in China that’s funded by Yao’s foundation and his other charitable efforts for children in poverty-stricken areas in China.

Here are some of my notes from the game:

- Metta was working on his jump-shot a lot pre-game, and it was looking like the opposite of pretty.

- Chinese fans really, really love Tracy McGrady. This goes back to T-Mac’s time with Yao in Houston, and of course, McGrady’s stint playing in China last season. I was thoroughly impressed by the variety of McGrady jerseys in attendance, with fans donning his jerseys from Toronto, Orlando, Houston, New York and Detroit. No one seemed to commemorate his time with the Spurs, though. Fans chanted his name throughout and cheered for him louder than anyone else. When Team America took the floor, Metta was announced first and McGrady last.

- Those were the same fans wh would soon be very disappointed to discover that McGrady wouldn’t be suiting up and instead would be Yao’s assistant coach.

- Kaka—who played no part in Brazil’s Confederation Cup victory the same morning—gets asked to speak to fans before the game.

- While Yao had gotten Metta, Noah, George Hill etc. to volunteer to play in the game, the surprise attendees were four point guards: John Wall, Ricky Rubio, Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday, who just so happened to be in Beijing at the same time for an adidas promotional event. Wall, Lillard and Holiday watched from the Team America sidelines in street clothes, but Rubio couldn’t resist and changed into gear to check into the game minutes in the first quarter.

- The Yao-and-McGrady coached Team America fielded Noah, World Peace, Scola, Hill and Lowry as its starting five.

- Team America’s first shot was a Metta three and a Metta miss.

- Despite spending a season in China, McGrady feigned ignorance to the existence of Wang Zhelin, one of the brightest young Chinese prospects and possible draft pick next year. Wang had a pretty dominant start to the game for Team China. Wang, 19 (supposedly), is a talented, mobile 7-footer, and was definitely the center-piece for China’s team. We hope T-Mac knows him now.

- Joakim Noah doesn’t have an off switch, and he decides to play playoff defense from the get-go. He is aggressive and emotional on the other end, too, dunking emphatically, taking ill-advised long twos, and on one occasion, playing the role of a point guard while trying to beat his man off the dribble. Good times.

- Watching Yi play in this game (and for his CBA team Guangdong in the past), it’s clear that being in China raises his confidence to another level; he plays with the swagger of a superstar. He takes a far more aggressive role in the offense. It didn’t amount to much in this game, but at least he was trying.

- In two consecutive possessions in the second quarter, Metta attempts to inbound the ball from his own end with a heave pass to the running Chris Singleton all the way on the other end of the floor. Two turnovers.

- Luis Scola’s under-the-radar career went a little further under when he joined the Suns, but the big Argentinian definitely still has some of the prettiest back-to-the-basket post moves.

- Rubio checks in to the surprise and delight of the fans. He looked a little rusty throughout the game, but was aiming to please.

- Rubio and Metta on the same team is my dream come true.

- The crowd breaks into “Mai Di” chants (that’s McGrady’s Chinese name) on numerous occasions, urging him to play. But it’s to no avail.

- The game itself is a pretty even, low-scoring affair, with the American side not taking things too seriously yet (except for Noah) and the Chinese side looking quite rusty.

- After halftime, quite inexplicably, the two participating teams get replaced by two teams of Chinese primary school-kids (presumably from Yao’s foundation school) wearing the same jerseys as the actual teams that now sat on the bench. For the next 10 minutes, the kids play a full-court game on a lowered rim and with a smaller ball. This surprisingly turns out to be a more entertaining affair than the “big-boys” game, as the kids ran helter-skelter end to end and each basket was greeted by rousing applause. McGrady was promoted to Head Coach for the kids, and took this brief job as primary tactician very seriously, mock-arguing with the refs on the sidelines, stepping out on the court animatedly and shouting tactics to his young players during the timeouts. As a matter of fact, this was the most animated I had ever seen McGrady.

- I initially assume that the game is just an extended half-time show, but my Chinese friend clarifies that the kids have just played the third quarter of the game, and the accumulated scores will count when the real teams return for the fourth quarter.

- By the time the fourth quarter does begin, Team America and Team China hit the floor again with China leading 42-40. Team America stops messing around and perks up on the defensive end. Noah is a monster, commanding the post to shut down all comers. The result is two-fold: the “Americans” begin to get a lot of fast-break opportunities that lead to breathtaking dunks and the Chinese players then retaliate by shifting into higher gear, too. Suddenly, we have a game!

- America’s crunch-time lineup is the starting five again: Noah, Scola, World Peace, Lowry and Hill.

- Noah continues his dominance on both ends of the floor, blocking several shots and scoring on numerous occasions. He ultimately ends up being the difference as Team America pulls through for a 61-58 victory.

- Hugs, cheers and applause for Yao.

And, that wraps it up. Watching basketball in China is always an awesome, if surreal, experience, which includes ingenious chants from the fans, a conglomerate of different and sometimes random NBA jerseys (I saw a guy in a Celtics Larry Bird uni a few rows in front of me), inappropriate arena music, a lot of laughs from the crowd, awful, sweet popcorn (this one is a personal pet-peeve) and awkwardly gyrating cheerleaders.

Mix those ingredients with an invasion of random NBA players, and the end result was a pretty memorable night of basketball. Thanks for the fun times, Yao.

Proud as we are of the way SLAM reads, we know the biggest reason we’ve lasted 20 years is how the mag looks. To celebrate some of our most memorable photo shoots we spoke to the great photographers who made them happen.

by Peter Walsh

SLAM has been bringing the stories of players to the forefront for two decades, but rarely do we get to hear from the people behind the lens who provide the iconic shots that will live on long after the player’s career is over. Between the phone calls, e-mails, scheduling, cancellations, and moody subjects, the amount of work it takes to get the perfect shot is one of the toughest aspects of bringing you the best in basketball month after month, and year after year.

Much like SLAM changed the game with its coverage of all things basketball, Pier Nicola D’Amico changed the photography game with his experimentation with digital augmentation that is now used by every photographer working today. Known for breaking down barriers ourselves, it was only a matter of time before SLAM and D’Amico joined forces. Nic’s clean shots and incredible post-production work has provided SLAM with some of its most unique and aesthetically pleasing shots.

It became a different psychology when we started shooting digital. It allowed the players to get involved in the creation of their own iconography. A lot of the time, the thing that I try to do is put myself in the shoes of the subject. Say it’s a media day and you’re Shaquille O’Neal, you have to go to 10 photo shoots—it’s a grind and a commitment. It’s also a contractual obligation that these guys have to do. What I try to do is create an environment on the set that it’s all about them.

Digital capture changed everything we did—it allowed the players to get involved in the way they are shot. Shaq would always say, “You never shoot me smiling, it’s always about looking hard!”

I immediately picked up on that and had some fun being jovial. Just the idea that they can partake in the way they are depicted changed the way these shoots went for me as an artist capturing another artist–whether it’s an athlete or a musician. It created more of a collaborative effort between the subject and I in interpreting them, shooting them, picking the angle, the background and then compositing it together. We started doing a lot of composites for SLAM and creating a cool fantasy world where the guys would be shot. That was the approach and it led to a bunch of assignments from SLAM.

I try to bring a very specific all-focus-on-the-athlete approach. The professional American athlete is a distracted animal [laughs]. If they get on set and if their phone is close by, someone is going to be hitting them up. A lot of times shoots will have pauses, whether it’s because you’re having technological problems or people are looking at files and discussing the photos. Think about what it’s like to be on set waiting while all that stuff is happening. My whole focus was to bring 100 percent of the attention to the athlete and have the technology so buttoned up that they feed on that and think, “Wow, this guy’s a pro. He’s trying to make me look good, I’ll give that effort.”

On the creative process…

What I try to tell people is, cut loose of what you think you should be doing and let it flow. Let it be about not trying too hard and don’t worry about making mistakes. Mistakes are such an important piece of creativity because there’s no inspirational moment, there’s no “a-ha” moment in art—you grind. It’s like shooting a thousand shots to eventually stroke that three-pointer. You gotta take a lot of pictures and that happy accident becomes, ‘Whoa that’s really cool,’ and you push into that and try going further.

I have to think that it’s similar in sports. In a lot of ways, you hear interviews with players, and they say, “Oh, I didn’t even think of that, it just happened.” When Jordan did that insane right-hand, left-hand layup, I doubt he was ever thinking that way, he was in the flow of the game. That’s what brilliant about basketball; it has that improvisational component to it. When Kobe scored 81 points, you could just see that he was in the flow and in the zone and couldn’t miss a shot. You see that Dr. J one where scoops a layup from behind the backboard and you think, “How the fuck did he do that?!” And there’s no way that that happens in a structured way—it’s all flow.

When he first came into the League there was all that chatter about being King James and Nike had done a throne shot with him. He was familiar with that concept and it was really about if the props felt right. The crown that fit him was not the crown I actually ended up using. We ended up re-shooting the crown and compositing it on his head, but the robe and the sword were live.

He was into it, it was fun, and the key thing was that you could see it on the screen. I can’t emphasize enough how digital has changed how these shoots go because it allows the player to get involved in the fun. It’s not like, ‘You’re the subject matter, you’re the model, stand here, look here, put your hands in your pockets, fold your arms.’ It’s more them being involved in that idea.

That whole pose was him trying different things like, ‘Let me put the sword across my chest like this. Take my picture.’ He walked over to the screen and said that looks cool. In the psychological sense, he’s committed and that makes everything easier.

The real rush for a lot of photographers is the capture point, the rush of getting a shot and overcoming problems. It’s about the challenge of getting a LeBron James to stay for a whole shoot; that’s my three-point shot.

One of the most fun things [star athletes] get to do is to be part of the creation of their superhero identity in a sense. When we did Shaq and Dwyane Wade ripping off their jerseys for the Flash and Superman shoot, they loved that, it was so much fun for them. They were so into that and it was great from a magazine perspective because they fed that idea to them and we were able to visualize that and show them how that was going to come off.

We showed up with the tee-shirts and all this stuff and no one thought to think whether their warm ups were pullovers or breakaways [laughs]. We got there and they were pullovers, so I had the guys basically take their t-shirts and pull them apart and in the studio I shot a model with a chest and the jerseys pulled open and we had to reconstruct the entire torso of Dwyane and Shaq to make that work. That was all fake, but they totally got a kick out of it.

I thought the stuff I did with Shaq and Dwyane was some of the best stuff that I did for SLAM. There are a lot of outtakes from that shoot that are really cool. I shot them pretending to do karate and Dwyane laughing about it next to Shaq. Then there’s the technological accomplishment that came with them looking like they were ripping off their jersey’s which was a huge rush.

They wanted to get his crossover for the cover, so I turned the monitor around and allowed him to see the captures coming in so that he could time it just right. The crossover was caught at the right time—pretty much when he started to palm it, which he got away with for years. That was kind of interesting because it was before a game and you only get ‘X’ amount of minutes with a guy. The writer went out to get a cup of coffee and Allen showed up at the shoot unannounced and early, stayed for about five minutes and by the time the writer came back he was gone. We got the crossover cover, the inside spread and the table of contents in a matter of six minutes. He was very cool.

I was surprised at how thin he was. It surprises me sometimes when you meet the guys, they’re not as big as they come off in the game but for a lot of players, that lightness and small bones gets them off the ground faster. If you look at Allen Iverson’s ankles, they’re like my wrist. I couldn’t believe he was that skinny and playing in the League.

It’s always sad to see a player not to be able to fulfill their potential because of their physical problems. He is a big boy. Shaq’s big, but Greg is as tall and really, really long. You think about a guy like that who’s about 300 pounds and the wear and tear on those joints, it’s intense. He did some slams for us that were thunderous, I thought the rim was going to break. It reminded me of Darryl Dawkins, he had that kind of power in his slams that I thought was unbelievable. Really nice kid, a gentle giant and I wished him the best of luck after the shoot.

We were at the McDonald’s All-American scrimmage and he was just dominating. None of the other players were able to keep up with him, he was undoubtedly going to be the No. 1 pick. Seeing him afterwards, it’s hard. You root for players and you want them to do well, but they’re only human. I think of Andrew Toney, aka the Boston Strangler. He had the fastest first step in the League and the sweetest jump shot and he broke down whole teams with his first step, he was unbelievable. The team botched it on his injury. He was complaining about his feet and they misdiagnosed it and he lost his career because of it. You worry about that. Do these guys really need an 82-game season?

That was a very casual shoot. It was at his house after he had just moved to Chicago—he just got traded, so they had the new uniform for him. I knocked on his door—rarely is it that I roll up on someone’s house to shoot—his kids were there and we went out and shot in the garage. He pulled out some sports cars and we set up the shoot there. The guys are always excited about showing off their cars.

It was very casual, very low-key dude, very down to earth. No entourage, no groups of people, it was just him, my two assistants, no one from SLAM, and that was it. He wasn’t caught up in his own image or anything like that.

On shooting Yao Ming…

Yao Ming was funny because the Chinese government interrupted our shoot. We were waiting for him to come out—he was only going to give us a few minutes—he was in a terrible mood and there was nothing I could do to change that. Just before we were about to shoot these suits showed up and his handlers said, “These are the people form the Chinese Olympic Committee, he has to do an interview online.”

So they stopped our shoot, kicked us off the set, did this promo for a few minutes, then released him back to our set and that was just crazy. In the end, that was really fun. We went around and shot Houston at night and we merged him into the Houston skyline and made him look like Godzilla. He looked like he was as tall as any of the buildings and the river was running through his shoes and all the lights are matching and the perspective was right and it looked really cool. I liked the way that one came out a lot.

On the comfort level players have when shooting for SLAM…

I’ve done shoots with brands for players, and those are always more high-pressure because they have their agents there, the brand guys are there, and they’re usually trying to promote a shoe or a beverage tie-in or an apparel tie-in. Those shoots tend to be a little more structured and less loose. If I’m the guy shooting I always try to keep it light.

When they come for an editorial shoot, they know that they can goof around more and it’s just SLAM in their mind, it’s basically an afterthought shoot after practice. They’ll meet a photo editor that they know and oftentimes the photo editor is familiar with the players. One time Shaq picked up one of the assistant photo editors and flipped her up and around in the air and it was just fun. The guys are a little less guarded, I think, because there’s no commercial commitment to it.

It’s the same thing for artists, photographers, designers and writers. Editorial is a place for freedom, it’s a place for expression and place to stretch and do things a little outside the box because there’s less pressure on it even though publishing is probably at it’s most high pressure right now. But, I think the guys are definitely looser during SLAM shoots.

It makes it more fun and worth it. I probably traveled across the country carrying a bunch of equipment, working with assistants that I don’t know. I’m sleeping in bad hotels, eating bad food—it’s not luxurious in any way. I usually sit in a dusty part of the stadium waiting for the player to finish practice, so there’s that sacrifice but the payoff is worth it.

On the impact SLAM has had on his career…

It pushed me out from being an obscure commercial photographer to being more of an editorial presence, and all the sports magazines started noticing. The cool thing about SLAM was it allowed me to shoot on court, so I was able to bring the speed action and the frozen action shot but also do the portrait and composite it to a reality. In that sense it really honed my sense to shooting, but it also freed me up to be a lot more expressive and fun. A lot of that was Melissa Brennan’s (SLAM’s Creative Director) support. I would shoot an athlete and shoot a whole bunch of plates and she’d say, “Yeah that’s cool, let’s do this!”

SLAM was a big part of the evolution of sports photography, which classically had always been the guys either in front of the lockers or an action shot. SLAM created the ability for them to expand the idea of the portrayal of an athlete and let that be more of an editorialized depiction that had more fun. SLAM allowed the players to join in on the creative process which was a big success. In that sense it really changed the tone of how to go about shooting superstar athletes and how that can happen successfully in an editorial format without pissing off sponsors or pissing off teams or team owners or agents or anything like that. Keep it safe, keep it PG, keep it fun, keep it expressive and let the guys have fun. It seemed like that was the formula that worked so great for SLAM.

Here’s Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau buttering up his former big man Omer Asik prior to tonight’s Bulls/Rockets tilt in Houston. Per the Chronicle: “Omer Asik was Thibodeau’s kind of defensive bulkhead, which is praise enough given the Chicago coach’s much-celebrated devotion to defense. But after two seasons with Asik as his backup center with the Bulls, Thibodeau looked past his performance and potential to the qualities that make both possible. ‘In a lot of ways,’ Thibodeau said, ‘he is like Yao Ming.’ In a lot of ways, he is quite different. Yao, who worked extensively with Thibodeau with the Rockets and in the offseasons in China, was blessed with an uncanny shooting touch and well-honed offensive moves. Asik is the backbone of the Rockets’ defense, largely on the strength of quick feet for a 7-footer, but has a relative lack of offensive skills. Yet a day before Asik was set to face the Bulls for the first time Wednesday at Toyota Center, Thibodeau, who spent four seasons as a Rockets assistant, saw what Asik and Yao had in common. [...] ‘Very, very bright,’ Thibodeau said of his former big men. ‘(Asik) has size, intelligence, great feet, drive and a willingness play for the team. He reacts quickly, anticipates, and he’s relentless. He’s a multiple effort guy. He’s a 7-footer, smart, driven. He will get better.’ Asik became the Rockets’ starting center, their first long-term successor to Yao, when the Bulls did not match a heavily back-loaded three-year, $25.1 million offer sheet. He immediately became the focal point of the Rockets’ defense, strong at the rim and in pick-and-roll coverages, but also a project to develop. ‘O’s the best defensive center I’ve been around since I’ve been in the NBA,’ Rockets acting head coach Kelvin Sampson said. ‘When Andrew Bogut was healthy, he was special, too, but I would put Big O in his class, and that’s a big compliment to Big O because I thought Bogut was a great defensive center.’”

According to Houston Rockets’ owner Leslie Alexander, the team plans to retire the jersey of Yao Ming. The big fella, due to recurring injuries, walked away from the game in 2011. Per the Houston Chronicle: “Former Rockets center Yao Ming these days will spend more time at the games of his Shanghai Sharks than at Toyota Center, but his uniform number will likely make its way to the arena rafters. Rockets owner Leslie Alexander, speaking after Tuesday’s unveiling of the All-Star ballot, said he expects to retire Yao’s No. 11. ‘Sometime probably, yes,’ Alexander said.”

Retired NBA center Yao Ming has traveled to Kenya to film a documentary, titled “The End of the Wild”. The documentary highlights and raises awareness to the near-extinct populations of rhinos and elephants in the country due to poaching. More details from this fascinating story, via CapitalFM.Co: “Yao’s first ever visit to Kenya is a meaningful one, as it will enlist his support in taking the anti-poaching message to his Chinese homeland, where Ivory is a prized commodity. Yao arrived in Kenya on Friday, August 10, and has so far visited Ol Pejeta in addition to having talks with scientists and conservationists, including Daphne Sheldrick of The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, who are actively involved in protecting the endangered species. China is the world’s most prominent destination for rhino horn and ivory, with projections suggesting there will be an added 250 million middle class consumers over the next 10-15 years—making this campaign all the more crucial to preserve wildlife. It is not Yao’s first attempt to protect elephants. Increasing populations of rhino and elephant between 1989 and 2007 have started dwindling dramatically due to an escalation of poaching activities. Yao’s feature-length documentary hopes to underscore the beauty and economic importance of wildlife tourism, and highlight the extant of the poaching crisis.”

The NBA’s newest – and most unexpected – sensation, Jeremy Lin, could potentially see a nice boost in his bank account from endorsement partners in North America and the Far East if he can keep up some of his exploits. Reuters has the details: “That storyline alone would make the 23-year-old Californian an attractive proposition to advertisers, but add in the fact he was born to Taiwanese parents and you would, it seems, have marketing gold on your hands. ‘There’s no question brands will be interested in Jeremy Lin,’ Jeremy Walker, head of sports marketing and branded entertainment for GolinHarris, told Reuters by telephone from Hong Kong on Monday. ‘You only have to look at what Yao Ming has done not just for the NBA but for brands that he represents both in the States and in China. Every top Chinese star that comes out from the Olympic Games or wherever it might be, there’s always going to be an awful lot of interest for brands because all the major brands in the world are still looking to China for growth. A lot of brands want that positive ‘halo effect’ association they are going to get from being involved with a superstar.’ China has long been the National Basketball Association (NBA)’s biggest market outside North America and the league is the country’s most popular sporting import despite the retirement of former Houston Rockets centre Yao Ming.”

Looking up to fill his retirement days, Yao Ming has gone back to school, hawked over-priced wine, and is now trying his luck within the political realm in his native land. Per China Daily: “On Sunday, Yao took his seat as a new member of the standing committee of Shanghai’s political advisory body during its annual session. ‘There are about 142 members in the group, and Yao is the youngest,’ said Kong Rong, who works in the service office of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Shanghai Committee. Yao is not the first Chinese sports star to become a Shanghai political adviser. Former Chinese female football star striker Sun Wen took up this job five years ago. ‘Yao said the new title shows trust coming from the people in the city. He had said before that once he decides to do something, he will try his best to accomplish it. So we can trust him that he can balance all aspects of his work and study, and do well in this job,’ said Yao’s spokesman Zhang Chi. But Zhang denied that Yao has any ambitions to have a ‘political career’. ‘The responsibilities for a CPPCC member include offering political consultation, and supervision. What Yao wants is to use his influence to do good deeds for society but not to seek a political position,’ Zhang said. Under the new title, Yao is supposed to attend regular meetings, make suggestions or raise written proposals for the advisory body and government departments.”

Not sure how well wine and basketball mix, but Yao Ming is going to give it a shot, as he becomes a wine seller back home. The stuff won’t be cheap. From China Daily: “Having retired from professional basketball in July, the Chinese sports star Yao Ming has been eagerly looking for new fruits to pluck. That search has resulted in Yao Ming Wine, which will make its debut this Sunday night at an auction held by Special Olympics East Asia, which organizes sports competitions for the intellectually disabled. Yao’s new Napa Valley wine company, Yao Family Wines, has released its inaugural wine under the name ‘Yao Ming: a 2009 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon’. It comes in a magnum bottle – meaning it can hold 1.5 liters of wine – costs 3,800 yuan ($596) a pop and is extremely rare. None of the 1,200 bottles in existence will be sold on the open market.”

Former Houston Rockets center Yao Ming is going back into the classroom. Now, he just needs to figure out what subject to study. From Fox Sports: “Chinese basketball hero Yao Ming is returning to school, three months after retiring from the game that made him a global star, the state Xinhua news agency reported Monday, citing his agent. The former Houston Rockets player will attend Shanghai’s Jiaotong University, one of China’s most prestigious institutions, but has not yet decided what he will study, his agent Zhang Mingji said. But fellow students will not be sitting next to the towering 7-foot-6 (2.29m) Yao. The university will assign him special teachers for one-on-one sessions because he was worried his appearance in class would affect other students. ‘Yao has always been learning after retirement,’ Zhang said. ‘He has never stopped learning.’ Jiaotong, considered one of China’s top universities, is renowned for its science and engineering departments.”

Today, recently retired 7-6 center Yao Ming turns 31 years of age. Despite an unfortunate amount of unreached potential, Yao had a huge, undeniable effect on both the game of basketball and the international sneaker market. In KICKS 14—on sale now—SLAM senior writer Khalid Salaam penned a piece on this intense globalization, which you can read below in its entirety. Happy born day, Yao!—Ed.

by Khalid Salaam

Admittedly, a Yao Ming piece in KICKS is a surprise. Even for a notoriously non-sizzle position such as center, Yao’s shoes were fairly ho-hum. His sneakers were utilitarian, workman-like in their look. Yet here he is in the KICKS issue, and with more than one page at that. Why? Because up to this point, we’ve focused on the wrong thing.

For the record, I think Yao Ming is a Hall of Famer. That’s been the question since news broke over the summer of his injury-related retirement. Remember, this is the Basketball Hall of Fame, not just the NBA’s. The numbers themselves aren’t incredible (19 ppg, 9 rpg, 1.9 bpg) but his game wasn’t really about numbers anyway. Yao Ming’s NBA career never got him past the second round, yet he deserves to go to Springfield for opening China up to the basketball world, and opening the basketball world up to China. In recent years, the HOF has opened its doors up to the likes of Yugoslavian coach Aleksandar Nikolic, who’s credited with calling attention to Eastern Europe as a talent base, and Meadowlark Lemon, whose career with the Harlem Globetrotters elevated the sport to an entertainment level previously undiscovered. Neither of those men worked in the NBA, yet their worldwide impact was worthy of enshrinement. Yao’s is, too.

One of the 7-6 gentle giant’s most enduring legacies is the way he made the sneaker market truly international. Having a shoe deal is one of the more prestigious accomplishments bestowed upon a player. The best-case scenario is to have a signature line, where your name and logo are prominently placed, where you can shoot commercials and become the face of a brand. You can say that Yao’s shoe deal underwhelmed since he never quite became the face of Reebok (his most famous ad was probably Visa’s “Yo/Yao” spot), but he was a consistent presence in the market. “We wanted him to be a brand ambassador and add credibility to not only the Reebok Basketball Category but also to the overall company as well,” says Brian Lee, head of Global Reebok Basketball.

Yao’s game was hard to translate into shoe language. He wasn’t quick and he didn’t jump high or cut or dunk. His game was predicated on jumpers and slow spins to the basket. Reebok did the best they could with that package.

The best-selling Yao shoe was the Pump Omni Hexride in 2008, which leads you to think that the brand was positioned for an upswing. Given that his popularity peaked around the ’08 Beijing Olympics, it’s safe to say there was a window where things could have gone another way. Instead, ’08 was the beginning of the end. A foot injury in the semifinals against L.A. in ’09—following a multitude of previously suffered ones— proved debilitating, and he only appeared in five games the rest of his career. It wasn’t Reebok’s fault—at 7-6 and 310 pounds, Yao’s body just couldn’t handle the stress.

“We met with both Yao’s trainer and surgeon, and the key attribute for him was keeping the underfoot stiff and firm,” Lee explains. “We used an engineered stroble board that was stockfit to an injected foam midsole of a higher than usual hardness. This proved to be a benefit in keeping the load-bearing forces in check. In addition, we built up the forefoot to accommodate the issues he had with his toes.” The science in the shoe couldn’t save Yao’s career, but that’s not where the big-picture story ends.

Before Yao, players wouldn’t dream of signing with smaller, overseas shoe companies; it simply was not an option. But Yao’s worldwide impact on the League opened the door for several international brands—especially Far Eastern ones.

Yao’s one-time teammates Shane Battier, Kyle Lowry and Patrick Patterson are all signed with China-based Peak, Luis Scola has a deal with Anta and it doesn’t stop there. Li-Ning has deals with Baron Davis and Evan Turner, as well as a distribution deal with Shaq. Additionally, Jason Kidd rocked Peak in the Finals, and last summer Kevin Garnett inked a deal with Anta. And it’s not like Chinese companies aren’t going for the gusto and targeting stars, too. When Kobe Bryant’s old Nike deal expired in ’07, Li-Ning made a bid to sign him. Did they have a chance? Probably not, but that just shows you the ambition and confidence that brands have on the international market.

Some of this is due to the overall growth of China as an economic superpower and on some level probably would have happened at some point regardless. But Yao’s presence on the world stage definitely helped create the climate in which these possibilities could flourish.

Who knew? In one of multiple video interviews he conducted withYahoo! Sports, Yao admits that he has trouble hearing out of his left ear. The Sporting News is on the details: “Former Houston Rockets center Yao Ming revealed that he is partially deaf in his left ear, and has been so since he was eight years old. In a series of interviews, Yao talks with Graham Bensinger of Yahoo! Sports about several topics, including his favorite game he’s played in (versus Slovenia in 2006 FIBA World Championships) and his proudest moments (leading the Houston Rockets into the second round of the NBA playoffs and playing for China in the 2008 Summer Olympics). The one thing that stood out, though, was Yao’s description of the lack of hearing in his left ear. Yao spoke with Bensinger about how that has affected his game. The big man, who played in NBA arenas packed with people, said he had a hard time hearing when it was loud. When Bensinger asked Yao how that’s affected him over the years, Yao’s response was, ‘Not many, not many. I can still clearly hear from my right side. If I’m ever at dinner or at a meeting I try to sit on the left side of the table so everyone is on my right side.’ The hearing loss in his left ear began when he was eight, Yao said.”

When it comes to Yao Ming’s 2012 Hall of Fame nomination as a contributor to the game of basketball, the big fella is saying “hold on!” Reports Fox 26 Sports: “A representative of former Houston Rockets center Yao Ming informed the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Wednesday that Yao feels it is premature for him to be on the ballot for the Hall of Fame in 2012. ‘Yao believes it is inappropriate for him to be considered for induction to the Hall of Fame at this time,’ said John Huizinga, Yao’s agent, in an interview with FOX 26 Sports. Yao, who retired last month because of injuries, was nominated for the Hall of Fame as a contributor by a member of the Chinese media. Anyone who is nominated as a contributor is immediately eligible for the Hall of Fame. For Yao to be voted in as a player, he has to wait a minimum of five years.”

In the history of American basketball there have been more impressive debuts, but none more memorable than a summer night in Northern California nearly a decade ago.

It was August 22, 2002, and a large part of the Arena in Oakland was singing along, with feeling, to the Chinese national anthem, while five-starred red flags waved in nearly every section of the stands. Yao Ming arrived in America, and brought the weight of nations with him. In China, he was already a national treasure. To Americans, he was about to be the most famous young Chinese person since the Tank Man.

As the Chinese and American national teams stood across from each other, trying for different reasons to look oblivious to what was happening all around them, I wondered if my misgivings about the scene were pangs of xenophobia or decency.

The US public in 2002 was apprehensive of both the totalitarian Chinese regime and our government’s—and private industry’s—race to do business with it. Many at the time were also wary of the unilateral actions of our own White House in the rush to Iraq, and the subsequent branding of American dissidents as unpatriotic.

Yao, the No. 1 pick in that June’s NBA Draft, was viewed by his country’s leaders as an emissary to the West. He was fresh-faced, talented, and as gentle-spirited off the court as a 7-6 panda bear. Constantly accompanied by government handlers, he nevertheless seemed confident and relaxed in front on the media.

The NBA, on the other hand, was obsessed with unlocking massive profits from television rights and memorabilia sales to approximately a fifth of the world’s population.

Team USA trounced the Chinese national team in that night’s exhibition, but Yao was arguably the best player on either side. He scored 13 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and added 3 assists, 3 steals, and 6 blocked shots in 34 minutes, while committing just one well-placed personal foul.

Ben Wallace, not the sort of player you wanted on your bad side, had grumbled that week that Team USA would “beat Yao up pretty bad” — a very unusual threat in any game, let alone an international exhibition that was merely a warm-up for the World Championships. But the first American to get physical with Yao — I wish I could remember who it was — found a large, bony elbow ensconced in his chest the next trip down. Team USA may have won by 30 points, but there was no more roughhousing.

Yao had lived up to the colossal hype.

After the game, as the US team and its coaches finished dressing in an empty locker room (having already offered their unreserved praise), reporters from all over the world crowded into a small meeting room for his first US press conference. All were warned not to ask Yao about a rumored injury to one of his lower extremities, possibly his foot.

He arrived flanked by handlers, and a few minutes later it was clear that this roomful of journalists would be careful not to offend the sensibilities of fascists. So thinking it my patriotic duty, I asked a carefully worded question that didn’t break their rules, but gave us an opportunity to see how far Yao could push his limits. We never found out.

His handlers answered the question for him, and the press conference was shut down shortly thereafter. Some of my fellow reporters were mad, and it took me a while to understand why.

Yao didn’t necessarily want to be a representative of his government. He was just a basketball prodigy who happened to be born in a place where they don’t have meaningful elections and can take out your whole family if you step out of line. Throughout the next decade, through all the successes, all the press conferences, all the downtime with the foot injuries that eroded his career, he never even hinted that he cared for politics.

He obviously cared about his extensive charity work, but it was clear his real passion was for the game. It showed in his on-court fire, a hard-earned skill level that brought joy to basketball purists, and in the respect given him by teammates and opponents. It also showed in his raw emotion when he announced his retirement.

At the end of the day, his strong play and stronger character achieved what everyone had hoped—he opened the Chinese market to the NBA, and provided China another friendly, well-liked face in America.

Looking back, every single player of comparable size and greater skill than Yao is in the Hall of Fame, at least after this week’s induction of Arvydas Sabonis. Yao should someday be there too, at least in my book. There were a few better big men during his time, certainly healthier ones, but few contemporary athletes—not even Michael Jordan—have withstood greater pressure. To accomplish what he did in such incredible circumstances deserves to be recognized by the basketball community. It might as well happen in Springfield.

It appears that Jeff Van Gundy may soon be proven right. Yao Ming will get a nomination to enter the Hall of Fame, rather quickly following his retirement. From NBA.com: “Officials of the Springfield, Mass., basketball museum said representatives from the Chinese Basketball Assn. and media in China signaled plans to nominate Yao in the contributor category and bypass the usual five-year waiting period for retired players. While there is no such thing as certainty in a balloting so secretive that even the voters are never revealed, let alone the results, Yao as a contributor removes the debate that might have accompanied his nomination as a player after a career decimated by injury. Plus, after announcing his retirement from the Rockets in July, he would not have been eligible for enshrinement until 2017. This unique approach would put Yao on the ballot that is submitted in late-2011 and faces two rounds of voting before inductees for the Class of 2012 are announced at the Final Four in New Orleans. The actual enshrinement would be later in the summer, likely August, in Springfield. Yao has not yet been nominated, but John Doleva, the president and CEO of the Hall, reported he has talked with Chinese basketball officials and media who called to get clarification on the process. They replied, Doleva said, that paperwork would come in time for the 2012 ballot.”

While most NBA players are gauging the pros and cons of playing in Europe, Luis Scola says he prefers to play in China. Hoopshype lends a translation from a report in Olé, an Argentine sports newspaper: “Scola prefers Yao Ming’s land as a destination if the NBA season does not start because of the lockout. ‘It’s a more open market, it has so much potential and the country is appealing to me,’ he told Ole. [...] In his last visit to China, Luis Scola was asked which Chinese team would he play with. ‘I see myself playing with the Shanghai Sharks because Yao is the owner of the team.’”

Yao announced that he’s walking away from the NBA in a ceremony and press conference from Shanghai, his hometown.

The Houston Chronicle has the graceful quotes from the League’s gentle giant:

“At the end of the last year, my left foot had a third fracture,” Yao said. “Today, I need to make a personal decision. I will stop my basketball career and I will formally retire. Today, thinking back and thinking of the future, I have been very grateful. First of all, I need to be grateful to basketball. It has brought happiness to many people including myself. Life is my guide. Just follow it and it will open doors. Out of each door, there will be beautiful world outside. Since I am retired, one door is closed. But a new life is waiting for me. I have left the basketball (court), but I will not leave basketball.”

He also will not leave Houston, and sent a message to his “second hometown.” … “I’d like to thank you for giving me a great nine years in my career,” Yao said. “Nine years ago, I came to Houston as a young, tall, skinny player. An entire city and team changed me to a grown man, not only as a basketball player. I gained my first daughter over there. I feel I’m a Houstonian and I will always be with you.”

Though Yao Ming’s playing days — in the NBA and for the Chinese national team — have officially come to an end, his involvement with the game is by no means over.

David Stern hopes to continue working with him to help grow the NBA’s brand in China, and Yao will also likely remain involved with Chinese basketball.

When news that Yao Ming has played his last game in the NBA broke, many reacted—some in news outlets across the country, and others directly on Twitter. Below is a compilation of thoughts from various current and former players (and a couple of coaches), some who played alongside the center, and others who competed against him. We’ll miss you, big guy!

Yao Ming was much more than a basketball player; he is arguably the most significant foreign player to ever play in the NBA. He was a true ambassador and without him, basketball in China wouldn’t be nearly as popular as it is today.

Let’s not get anybody confused here, the guy was a very good basketball player, among the very few centers in today’s game who could defend, shoot, rebound and post-up. He was a special talent, and barring injuries, there is no doubt that Dwight Howard would have to fight for the title of best center in the League. Check out the gallery above for some of his best moments in the NBA.

It’s not official just yet, but word is out that Yao Ming will be hanging up his No. 11 jersey this summer, and in celebration of the big man, we’re running all four of his SLAM features this week. We’ve already brought you stories from SLAM 69, SLAM 88 and SLAM 115, and below you can read Jake Appleman’s piece from SLAM 130 (August ’09).

by Jake Appleman

Eleven Chinese media members surround Yao Ming in the visitor’s locker room at the Staples Center before Game 2 of the Rockets’ second-round tilt against the Lakers. Somebody asks Yao something in Chinese. Yao responds in his native tongue. Everyone laughs. Somebody else says something in Chinese. Yao responds. Everyone laughs. The process repeats itself a few more times. With every response, the laughter’s volume builds incrementally. There’s something cool about what’s going on. So many NBA interviews have a put-on feel to them, as if all parties involved would rather be somewhere else. While much is lost in translation, this interaction feels genuine. This media cluster loves Yao, and Yao appreciates them. For someone so ridiculously famous, Yao’s down-to-earth vibe is palpably refreshing. In fact, many players from overseas have this type of connection with reporters from their homeland. Camaraderie is built out of a familiarity of language and a mutually shared momentary escape from a foreign land. For a literal giant in a circus that promotes aerial acrobatics, the grind can probably feel damn lonely, especially if, like Yao, there’s nobody else quite like you.

All of this to say, not only is Yao Ming completely unique, he’s also a paradoxical figure, the yin and the yang of the low post. He’s arguably the most famous person from the world’s most populated country, but more of his countrymen choose to wear the jerseys of other players they identify with (Kobe, LeBron, AI) instead. Yao’s the star around which his team’s offense orbits, but too often he just doesn’t get enough touches or shots. He’s 7-6, but his exuberance is about 6-2. He made significant statistical leaps in his third (double digit rebounds) and fourth (25 ppg) seasons, but missed the Playoffs both years due to injury. He might be the best at his position in the League, but few truly like to talk about it; maybe it’s that he’s a center who uses an unprecedented, new-age combination of height, finesse and touch to get the job done which frustrates pundits looking for athletic muscular bangers with megawatt smiles in the Shaq/Dwight Howard mold. To that end, he may rack up the All-Star votes, but he doesn’t etch his name in mid-February lore with dunk contest antics or potent quotables.

In a media climate focused on Twittering tweets and the word on the streets, it’s beginning to feel like Yao may never surpass the hoopla of his first two seasons. He was a freakishly tall and talented import, unlike anything we had ever seen; now that we’re used to him, American attention drifts away. It’s a League that markets superstars, and Yao has the grace and wit to be a true transcendent personality, but that only seems to carry over when he’s dealing with a Chinese media contingent. He’s a Hall-of-Fame talent who might be remembered more for how he helped globalize the game than for his game itself. During an era defined by quick whistles, speed, guard play and a dearth of legitimate big men, that possibility is unfortunate. Yet as he enters his prime, Yao has all the ability and talent around him to change that. As it often is in this League—and rightly so—in the end it’s all about winning. While the juxtapositions continue to pile up, Yao may finally be able to line up some of these skewed contradictions for two major reasons: 1) Now, it’s his team and 2) He’s finally gotten out of the first round.

In fact, the Rockets’ encounter with the Lakers is their first trip to the second round in 12 years. And today, they’re up 1-0 thanks in large part to a virtuoso performance from Yao. In Game 2, he’s lost to foul trouble for much of the game and doesn’t register his third and fourth points until early in the fourth quarter. After the game we ask him about the foul trouble and he responds, “The first two I have no comment. I have no comment. You need to play legally.” He also learns the word “split” in the press conference, which is fitting given his contradictory qualities.

He stays away from foul trouble in Game 3, and gets back into a groove in the first half. He showcases his patented eight-foot fadeaway from the left block on more than one occasion. It’s a shot that can’t be blocked because of his mammoth size. He also uses his body to aid teammates on their way to the hoop, sealing Ron Artest’s man as the Rottweiler drives baseline, and he follows speedy point guard Aaron Brooks to the hoop on a high screen-and-roll, which forces a help defender to commit off of Carl Landry. The result is an easy dunk for Landry. Says teammate Luis Scola, “He’s a great player, and when you play with great players around you, it’s always easier. Everybody has to collapse on him. Everybody’s focus is on him. And that creates spaces for everybody else.”

This activity from Yao benefits his teammates in another way: their three-point attempts are generally of the wide-open variety. Without Yao on the floor in Game 2, Artest was flinging low-percentage, long-range bombs at a pretty alarming rate. More often than not, when a pivot of Yao’s caliber is fed in the post and the double team comes, the ball moves out of it and swings from side to side with much greater ease.

The second half of Game 3 is a different story. Yao starts by missing a midrange jumper and the Rockets go away from their big man after the Lakers make some excellent defensive plays on him. Coach Rick Adelman is shown on the bench gesticulating hand signals that would seem to indicate a desire to pass it inside, but that doesn’t happen and the Lakers win going away. Stylistically, Adelman makes no bones about his desire to lead with height. ”He’s been our rock,” the coach says. “All year long, he’s been the guy. It’s always nice to say, ‘Let’s post him up.’”

When Yao breaks his foot in the second half of Game 3, everything changes. Most write the Rockets off, only to feel silly when they spank the Lakers in Game 4 in Houston. The Game 4 win gets pundits thinking that maybe the Rockets could be just as good as an undermanned hustle and flow squad with no certified go-to All-Star. The 7-6 barometer by which the team is judged is suddenly gone and mostly forgotten.

It’s not official just yet, but word is out that Yao Ming will be hanging up his No. 11 jersey this summer, and in celebration of the big man, we’re running all four of his SLAM features this week. We’ve already brought you stories from SLAM 69 and SLAM 88, and below you can read DeMarco Williams’ piece from SLAM 115 (March ’08).

words DeMarco Williams / portrait Pier Nicola D’Amico

It’s amazing the things they do with movie cameras these days. With the right magician behind the lens, you can make Will Smith look like he’s the only person in New York or have it appear that Sylvester Stallone hasn’t aged since the last Rambo.

Today, Reebok is up to its own CGI-aided trickery. An inconspicuous high school gym in Abilene, TX, has morphed into a commercial set. Houston Rockets center Yao Ming and about 100 of his unclosest friends are shooting a spot for the shoe brand that’s going to be a part of a mega-promotion for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Beijing. Utilizing never-before-used technology, Reebok’s making it seem like all the extras are literally inside of Yao, almost willing him onto the court. So when they run and jump, he runs and jumps. When they dunk, he dunks. The concept is kinda sick. The description offered here can’t begin to justify what’s seen on the storyboards.

The exciting end product will come to TV sets across Asia sometime in the first half of ‘08. Right now things are pretty mundane. There’s a whole lot of walking around and moving equipment about. Oh, and Yao’s over there, sitting semi-patiently in his chair.

“I’ve been here since 10 a.m.” And to think, that huffing is from the big guy’s stand-in, Charles Crouch. You can only imagine how the star must be feeling.

As if sensing her angular lead actor growing antsy, a make-up person suddenly walks up to Yao and starts brushing him. All the while she’s there, Yao’s got side chatter going with a member of his marketing team. “I get double-teamed anywhere I go—on and off the court,” quips Yao after the powdering. “I appreciate that people care about me and watch me and support me. That’s a really good feeling. Hopefully, that can continue.”

If you’ve followed Yao’s career at any point from his Chinese Basketball Association days up to this current NBA season, you know there’s no indication that any of the attention is going to end anytime soon. Through the first 16 games, Yao is averaging 22.4 points, 10.3 rebounds and about 6.3 Asian reporters chronicling his every step per game. What many skeptics discounted as novelty five years ago has quietly turned to respect for a 27-year-old man determined to prove he’s worth the international headlines.

Give Yao his due. The super center could have easily rested on the fact that even if he never progressed from the 13.5 ppg he posted his rookie year, he’d still be one of the planet’s most famous athletes. Yao could have copped out on being a go-to guy and shrugged that duty to fellow Rocket Tracy McGrady. He’d probably still be the top vote-getter in the All-Star Game for a third straight year. But to garner respect from his peers and knowledgeable sports fans across the map, Yao had to do more.

“You can’t say, I want to play in the NBA Finals but I don’t want the pressure,” begins the 2002 No. 1 pick. “That’s impossible. Those important games cause a lot of people to concentrate on it. I would be honest and say, I have pressure but I know how to handle it. If you have pressure, you need to face it.”

Coming into this new season, in fact, Yao knew demands would be yoked on him and T-Mac to get the almost-there Rockets, well, there. “We have a new coach and some new teammates,” Yao says. “I was worried. Did we prepare well for the season? Well, we started 6-1, which brought us a lot of confidence. Obviously, then we started struggling, even at home, so we need to find out what happened to us.”

Some of what happened was due to another McGrady injury. Since Yao’s been wearing No. 11 for Houston, Tracy’s missed more than 50 games due to aches and sprains. To be even halfway formidable competition to the other two Texas franchises, the Rockets need both stars. Nothing against Shane Battier and scrappy Argentine Luis Scola, but without Ming and Mac, the Austin Toros could give ’em a run. Yao confesses that when T-Mac’s down, “I do have that pressure. But that’s human nature. When you have a man down, you would feel pressure. We still have a lot of talented players. We just need to trust ourselves.”

The director’s assistant slides back into frame, as if he’s been waiting for a break in dialogue. Yao walks off with him. Folks in the film industry call segueing moments like this a “transition.”

A little background before we continue: Sports in general are a colossal deal in the Far East. (Some 200+ million just watched Yao and Milwaukee rookie Yi Jianlian duke it out.) Sports Illustrated China doesn’t just put Yao, LeBron and popular baseball players on its covers; tennis and track stars get front page love, too. So, when it was announced that the biggest event of them all, the 2008 Summer Olympics, was coming to Asia for the first time since the ’88 Seoul Games, people went berserk.

“That was a big deal for us, for my country,” explains Yao, who’s been on the Chinese National Team since he was 18. “We put a lot of passion, energy into preparing for these Games. Everyone cannot wait until the people come to China and [we can say], We are ready for you. We will give you feelings like you were just at home. This will be one of the best Olympics in history.”

Reebok plans to capitalize on the homeland excitement with its most ambitious global assault ever: “Fuel Yao’s Unlimited Power.” This virtual campaign allows loyal supporters to go online to learn about Yao, chat about Yao and even create song mixes that honor Yao. The more the Chinese faithful participate on the promotional site, the more the big man’s muscle is fueled on the Yao Ming Power Meter.

To many Stateside, this whole thing might come off like silly idolatry; in the Chinese culture, it all makes perfect sense. Yao is genuinely energized, be it virtually or in reality, by the support he gets from his countrymen. But if the cultural pride aspect isn’t enough to draw visitors, the fact the strongest supporters from the country’s four regions get tickets to see Yao play in the Games might be.

It’s not official just yet, but word is out that Yao Ming will be hanging up his No. 11 jersey this summer, and in celebration of the big man, we’re running all four of his SLAM features this week. Yesterday we brought you SLAM 69′s cover story, and below you can read the Yao feature from SLAM 88 (June ’05).

by Michael Bradley

The interpreter stands close, ready if needed. There was a time when Colin Pine was Yao Ming, or at least his voice. Reporters would fire their questions at the big man and then wait, while the issue would be discussed in Chinese and then relayed by the, well, much smaller man to the waiting audience. Most of us could never be sure that Colin and Yao weren’t talking about the weather or what they had for lunch, but we would always receive a suitable answer, and that was good enough.

These days, Yao tries to do it alone. It’s admirable, really. Now in his third year in the States, he understands enough English to speak for himself. Of course, the answers are shorter now, more clipped, and it’s 50-50 whether he really understands the question. Then again, how is your Chinese? Thought so. He still defers at times to Pine, but Yao gets big points for working with us, for even trying. The quality of the interview suffers, but he’s doing it right. If he wants to be an NBA player, he has to learn the language, just like he has to learn not to back down from Shaq or try to chase Allen Iverson in the open court. He’ll never cut a rap CD or get a post-graduate degree in trash talk. But in four or five years, it’s a good bet that Yao might just be among the best interviews in the League.

Why? Because he just tries so damn hard at everything—and that includes his game. Yao is still miles away from becoming a night-in, night-out dominator, but no one can ever fault his effort. He works. He cares. It’s just that, right now, he is in something of a no-man’s land, both on the court and off. Just as he’s moving toward real dialogue in his interviews, so too is he getting closer to what everyone expects him to be in uniform. So, we get some gems on both ends, whether he’s talking about Tracy McGrady—“He’s a player who can make the game much easier”—or going for 30 and 9 against Seattle. And there are the clunkers, like when he smiles vainly and tries to force out a few syllables when he clearly doesn’t understand a question, or when he’s outrebounded by a guard, simply because he doesn’t yet have the pure instincts to be more than just a very tall area rebounder. He stands in the middle of everything right now, part good and part not-so-good. Part All-Star ballot superstar, part frustrated ballplayer. He’s so much more than the other giants who have played this game, better than Bol, Muresan, Bradley and Eaton all rolled into one. But he’s not there yet. And you need to understand that.

“It’s still too early to tell with Yao,” says Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy. “Big guys take four to five years to develop. We don’t know what adjustments he’ll make or how much more comfortable he can be.”

He’s still too slow at times. He doesn’t have that inherent sense of the game at its top level that will prevent him from seeming occasionally mechanical, even patterned: 1-2-3 shoot, 1-2-3 pass. And then he gets so mad at himself sometimes that you have to chuckle. Watching him bang himself in the head after a poor play or ball up his fists and shake them in fury when he throws a bad pass is great theater, because it’s so anti-NBA. You’re supposed to be cool, Yao. Admit your mistakes quietly. Touch a finger to the chest. Nod once or twice. Ah, innocence. You don’t find it too often in these parts, and it’s refreshing—to a point. For Yao to make it—really make it—in America, he has to get it all going, from the practiced clichés of the interview room to the cool approach on the hardwood, where mistakes are forgotten quick, if regarded at all. See, he has to get there, and he has to look like he belongs. Adjusting to the NBA is tough, and Yao is trying, really trying. Like we said, he just isn’t there yet.

“It’s hard to say how comfortable it is,” he says of his current existence, “but it’s much more comfortable than when I came here.”

—

Opening possession, Houston at Philadelphia: Yao chases Allen Iverson along the baseline, a truly comical moment, until Yao reverses field and stops Sixers center Sam Dalembert from scoring down the lane after taking a pass from AI. Nice play.

Two minutes later: Tracy McGrady makes a nice pass to Yao on the block, but when the big man tries to shoot, Sixers forward Kyle Korver strips him clean. Keep the ball up high, big man.

First quarter action: Yao tries to overpower Dalembert near the basket but can’t get his shot off. Where’s the strength?

Sixers’ ball: Dalembert wants to power jam on Yao. Instead, he sends it over the basket without touching a thing. You can’t teach height.

That’s how it goes with Yao. He’s good. He’s not so good. He makes big plays, and he lets some up. He succeeds. He fails. But when it’s all over, there is usually more good than bad. Yao finished with a modest 12 points and 5 boards in the 118-95 win, but he’s been good for about 18 and 8 throughout the season, right around his ’03-04 numbers. The improvement is subtle, but it’s there.

“What I’m impressed by is his work ethic,” McGrady says. “He’s doing a helluva job getting himself in shape and staying in shape and working on his game, trying to become a dominant force. He works constantly, every day, and I see that. I see that he wants to be great. He wants to do something special in this League. He wants to win.”

That message of encouragement and harmony wasn’t exactly out there at the beginning of the season. The Rockets staggered out of the blocks like a Ben Affleck movie, showing little teamwork and causing folks around the League to wonder about the intelligence of that McGrady deal. Houston started out 6-11, and neither of its All-Stars looked comfortable. Believe it or not, it was apparently a case of McGrady deferring to Yao, a condition no psychic could have forecast. But after a few deep conversations with Jeff Van Gundy and a hard-target search for his old, shoot-first self, T-Mac recovered and began to play more aggressively, realizing there was enough offense to go around. The results were almost immediate. By January, the Rockets were over .500, and by February they’d forced themselves into the Playoff picture.

“It took a while for me to go back to the T-Mac I used to be in Orlando, in terms of deferring to Yao, at times, and I think he was deferring to me,” McGrady says. “Now, I’m just playing basketball like I normally play and trying to make him a better player.”

To his credit, Yao offers no resentment about McGrady’s renewed offensive muscle-flexing. He understands the value of having a strong perimeter presence on the court, even if that strong presence can sometimes be overpowering and not always so willing to play inside-outside. Even Steve Francis, a huge Yao supporter, grew tired at times of Van Gundy’s old-fashioned low-post offense. McGrady (much like Francis, a great advocate of one-on-one basketball), can’t be expected to feed the giant every time down. And that’s OK with Yao. Reiterating how much easier Tracy’s presence makes things, Yao says, “A lot of times we play teams that pay attention to him. He can make a lot of passes that can give us open shots.”

It’s not official just yet, but word is out that Yao Ming will be hanging up his No. 11 jersey this summer. In celebration of the big man, we’re running all four of his SLAM features this week, beginning with the SLAM 69 Yao/Steve Francis cover story below. Enjoy.

by Lang Whitaker / portraits by Atiba Jefferson

The Houston Rockets locker room is small by NBA standards, a concrete square retrofitted with carpet and lockers. Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley, the Rockets starting backcourt, have the two seats in front of the door, and as the team’s de facto spokesmen—though Franchise is 26 and Cat is 27—they’ve usually drawn the bulk of the media attention. But a significant Asian media contingent has settled into Houston this season, here to follow, pick through and dissect the rookie season of Yao Ming, the 22-year-old, 7-5 center from Shanghai, China, who’s taken America by storm. While the other Rockets sit around in various states of dress, the Asian media wait respectfully in the hallway. For now, at least.

When talk in the locker room somehow turns to actors’ poor career choices, Mobley leaps to his feet to point out that Julia Roberts once appeared in Mary Reilly, and that Leonardo DiCaprio followed up Titanic with The Beach. “Come on,” Cat exclaims. “After Titanic, you go and do The Beach? What is that? Can anyone tell me?”

In one corner, Yao sits with a blank face. Though his English has improved rapidly since he came to Houston in October, Yao doesn’t often let on when he understands what’s going on; the language barrier not only keeps people from bothering him pregame, but also lets him listen and learn at his own rate. Pretty much everything he has said to any member of the media this season has come through his American translator, Colin Pine.

Yao picks up an empty water bottle and tightens the cap. He stands, transfers the bottle to his right hand, does a slick 180 away from the locker and stops cold, facing up to a trash can in the back of the room. He bends his knees and releases a lovely, high-arching jumper. Just then a ballboy rounds the corner and swats the bottle to the ground, then yells, “You just got blocked by a midget!”

It’s not clear if Yao understands, but he calmly walks over, picks up the bottle and walks back to his original spot. He jacks up another shot that bangs off the lip of the can and clatters loudly to the floor. His head down, Yao walks over, picks up the bottle and drops it into the can. Softly, in language everyone in the room can understand, Yao mutters, “Shit!”

From 30,000 feet up in the air, the great state of Texas is just as wide and long and grand as everything you’ve read would suggest: tremendous fields bisected by dirt roads and country lanes. The city of Houston defines urban sprawl, retail strips tumbling out past the interstates with malls sprinkled throughout. With the Rockets grounded for repairs the last few years, Houston residents had turned elsewhere, mainly to baseball and expansion football.

Then about six months ago, a Chinese rocket touched down in Houston. And now the whole world is fighting to get a good seat.

—

“It sounds like church music in here! Do you hear that? You hear it?”

Steve Francis is on the Rockets practice court hollering at himself, draining threes while sliding back and forth around the arc. Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich is off to the side, surrounded by Asian reporters, struggling to understand questions and keep them happy.

“Last night,” a girl from a Chinese sports newspaper begins, “Yao Ming was not so effective down the streech, and…”

“Down the what?” Rudy interrupts, craning his neck toward her.

“Down the streech?” she asks cautiously.

Silence. Swish. Swish.

“Oh!” Rudy erupts. “Down the stretch! It’s the stretch, the stretch. That was very good, though,” Rudy says, always the coach, actually patting the flustered girl on the back.

While Yao Ming was making strides in his game and winning a fan base of 1.3 billion on the other side of the Pacific, the Rockets were reloading, and Rudy was there. As Houston’s coach since ’92, Rudy has presided over the Rockets’ renaissance, overseeing two championship teams and the team’s offense as it evolved from paint-based to perimeter-oriented and, now, to something with a little more balance.

The offense became a backcourt dream in the summer of ’99, when the Rockets swung a deal to get the rookie Francis for salary cap filler from the Vancouver Grizzlies. Steve teamed up with Mobley, and the electric duo set Houston’s backcourt in stone for the next decade. Steve’s rookie averages were remarkable (18 points, 6.6 assists, 5.3 boards), and he has stepped up his scoring each season since.

Francis missed a lot of time last season with headaches caused by a mysterious inner ear condition, eventually diagnosed as Meniere’s Disease. After changing his diet and visiting more specialists than Grant Hill, he’s been able to control the illness this season, while playing well enough to get voted a starter in the ’03 All-Star Game. “I’m still playing the same, just with more experience,” Steve says. “I think I’m shooting the ball a lot better, as far as threes and from the field. I think it’s just basically being a leader. I’m definitely the leader of the team. The way you do that is by displaying that, by being at practice every day, all day.”

As he says that, Stevie looks around the gym, realizing it’s totally empty. He was the first Rocket to arrive, five long hours ago when practice officially started. He is the last one here. He is leading. “This is what I’ve always wanted,” he says, strapping an ice bag onto each of his knees and sitting beside the court. “Always wanted to be a leader. My rookie year I wanted to be the leader of this team, and it’s just taken four years to evolve. We have to believe in ourselves and believe we can win. That’s all that’s left right now.”

“We have the second-youngest team in the League,” Rudy T. had said minutes earlier. “Nobody talks about that. Denver and Memphis, we’re just like them. Young teams never win. I’m not using that as an excuse. We’ve got to keep it somewhere in the middle, so when we’re winning it’s not way up here and when we’re losing it’s not way down there.”

Steve thinks the Rockets’ consistency will come, eventually. “It took Cat a while to find his groove this year,” Steve says. “He missed eight games early with an injury, and once he gets that groove back, we’ll be sitting real pretty.” Until then, Francis has taken Yao under his wing, ordering him clothes, teaching him English, even planning a trip to China next summer. “As a team, us improving comes with watching and being around the game and learning…and with the Lakers playing down, the West is wide open. A team like us, if we can get hot, come March or April, we can get going. You never know.”

With that, Steve stands up and sort of limps back on the court, his custom X Beams unlaced. He hobbles to the free throw line and motions for a ball. Since I’m the only other person in the gym, I run one down and fire a pass to The Franchise.

Yao Ming only played for eight years in the NBA, but he left an indelible mark on the League, and his impact on the game of basketball globally is enormous. Injuries are to blame for his tragically short stint in the NBA — they started cutting Yao’s career short in just his fourth season (Ming played an average of 81 games per year through his first 3 seasons in the L.)

The towering center with a deft touch around the rim and from outside the paint, put up averages of 19 points, 9 boards and shot 52% from the field for his career, and when you combine that with everything else he accomplished off the court, Yao Ming’s former Houton Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy says that’s more than enough to warrant a Hall of Fame berth.

From the Houston Chronicle:

“No. 1 to me, he’s a Hall of Famer,” Van Gundy said. “I don’t care if you put him in as player, as a contributor or put him in with his own heading. This guy definitely gets in for the greatness as a player when healthy or what he did as ambassador.”

He then added a thought he would repeat often. “People forget,” Van Gundy said, “just how good he was.” With Yao’s decision to retire rather than attempt another comeback from another injury, discussions about his career always will include thoughts of what could have been.

Yao is officially calling it quits after not being able to fully recover from numerous foot operations. It’s a bittersweet moment for NBA fans, as the League is losing a player who was both a great teammate and person.

Per Yahoo!: “Rockets’ Yao Ming has decided to retire from the NBA, league sources tell Y! Sports. He informed the league office within past 48 hours.”

Yao was a giant on the court and had a huge skill set to match. Yao’s the reason many Chinese fans focused their attention on the NBA, and now the League is devoting much attention to selling its game in China.

Thank you, Yao, for everything. We’re gonna play the Yao Ming song for a while…

When the Finals ended, it was time to pay homage to Dirk Nowitzki. Crowned as the best European to ever grace the NBA hardwood, Nowitzki put on for his current city and his roots, as bottles were popped in Dallas and Germany. With the inevitable “where does he rank in history” talks that followed, we figured it was time to go into the international vault and dig up some highlights from the 10 best international players ever. The videos aren’t in any sort of official ‘ranking,’ but feel free to chime away in the comments after watching all the tapes. Instead of whole highlight reels, we relive special performance from each player’s career. There’s one mix, but it’s justified. Salute to all the ballers from overseas.—Eldon Khorshidi.

Here’s yet another completely depressing story in which Yao Ming talks about the possibility of never playing basketball again. Sigh. From Reuters (via China Daily): “The towering Houston Rockets center, China’s most recognizable athlete, told CCTV he could not predict when, or indeed if, he would fully recover from a serious ankle fracture suffered last November. ‘I don’t know if I would join some champion team in the future,’ the China Daily quoted him as saying when asked about leaving a new-look Rockets team. ‘I don’t even know if I can play again.’ Yao, however, said the prospect of playing in front of his baby daughter Amy gave him extra motivation to continue his injury-plagued career in the NBA. ‘I wish she could watch me play and even win a championship,’ Yao said. ‘Not only see through video highlights how her dad played. She is definitely a big motivation for me to continue, although my foot still needs lots of treatment. Walking or jogging is okay… but I need to get 80 percent of my strength back to play. I have got only about 30 percent at most now.’ Yao confessed he was not sure how he would fit in with the plans of new Rockets coach Kevin McHale. ‘A championship ring has become not so important in my plans,’ Yao said. ‘My main thought for the next 10 years is to look after my family and continue my community activities.’”

Though it isn’t know if he can remain healthy, it is safe to say that 7-6 center Yao Ming could still provide plenty of assistance to an organization next season, assuming he can stay on the court.In this Houston Chronicle feature on the big man, Yao states he’s still unsure about his future: “Inside the school, Yao stood next to a life-sized poster of Hakeem Olajuwon holding one of the Larry O’Brien trophies he helped the Rockets claim in the mid-1990s. Yao wants to help the Rockets claim another one. But the free-agent-to-be knows less about his basketball future than at any point since he was a teenager in China and unsure if he would be allowed to come to the United States to play in the NBA. Yao, 30, said he ‘might’ know in August or September if he will ever play in the NBA again. He wants to. And he wants to play here. He just doesn’t know if his body will enable him. ‘It’s too early to say still,’ he said. ‘The experience I have (tells me to keep) doing what I am supposed to do every day. You never know what will happen tomorrow.’”

]]>http://www.slamonline.com/nba/yao-mings-future-still-in-doubt/feed/5Yao Ming Still Unsure if He Can Play Next Seasonhttp://www.slamonline.com/nba/yao-ming-still-unsure-if-he-can-play-next-season/
http://www.slamonline.com/nba/yao-ming-still-unsure-if-he-can-play-next-season/#commentsFri, 20 May 2011 13:00:38 +0000http://www.slamonline.com/online/?p=132784

Though Yao likes what he’s seeing from his surgically-repaired left ankle, and says he can’t imagine playing anywhere but in Houston, there are no guarantees about the big fella hitting the court next year. From the Chronicle: “If he can continue to play, Yao knows where he wants that to happen. ‘I’d like to be here,’ Yao said Thursday during an appearance at Hunters Creek Elementary School in west Houston. ‘Nowhere else is better than Houston for me right now.’ Yao, 30, said he was encouraged by his visit with team doctors Wednesday. MRI results showed improvement in the stress fracture that limited him to five games this past season. ‘Everything looks good,’ Yao said. ‘The pictures (MRI) showed great news.’ Yao, who will become an unrestricted free agent July 1, remained noncommittal about whether he will be able to play next season. He said he should have a better idea by August or September. Based on that timetable the 7-6 center likely would miss most, if not all, of training camp. ‘It’s too early to say,’ Yao said of whether he will play next season. Pressed on the subject, Yao replied, ‘If there is a season’ — a reference to a possible work stoppage with the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement set to expire. ‘Right now I’m not ready (to play), but I still have a couple months, maybe more.’ Rockets owner Leslie Alexander and general manager Daryl Morey have expressed their desire to re-sign Yao if he’s healthy.”

While we’re sure Yao Ming is concerned with whether or not he’ll be healthy enough to compete next season, it appears there’s something else bothering him these days: Companies using his name to sell products. Via Yahoo!: “China’s official news agency says Yao Ming has sued a sportswear maker for allegedly using his name and logo to sell its products. Xinhua News Agency reported Friday that the injured Houston Rockets center had sued Wuhan Yunhe Sharks Sportswear Co. for putting his name and logo ‘Yao Ming Era’ on its shoes. It said the lawsuit was filed in Wuhan, the capital of central Hubei province. Yao has a licensing agreement with Reebok. Copyright infringement is widespread in China, with rampant illegal copying of products from software to music and even medicine. Yao is recovering from an ankle that could threaten his NBA career.”

A few years ago, the thought of Yao Ming playing for a team other than the Houston Rockets would have been considered insane. Chronic injuries have changed that, but Yao doesn’t want to go anywhere else once he’s healthy enough to play. The Chronicle reports: “Facing the possibility that his inability to play without injury would end his career or prompt him to choose to retire, Yao said for the first time since his injury he hopes to come back from the stress fracture that ended his season in November. ‘I’ll try continuing,’ Yao said Thursday. A lot will depend on this foot. Asked if he believes he will play again, he said, ‘That’s the direction.’ In the final season of his contract, Yao added he hopes to be back with the Rockets.’ ‘I like it here. I’m used to playing here,’ he said. ‘I’m comfortable, really, really comfortable to play here, and I have my family here. I’m not really planning to leave.’ Told of Yao’s comments, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey would not discuss the team’s plans, but he was as clear about his preference. ‘I hope Yao Ming comes back to play again,’ Morey said, ‘and I hope that it’s here.”

Time to get excited Warriors, fans! Your squad will reportedly consider signing a center with a harrowing history of devastating injuries this summer. From the San Fran Chronicle: “If the Warriors can’t find their coveted center upgrade at the trade deadline or in the draft, they would consider injury risks Greg Oden or Yao Ming at a discounted rate in the offseason. ‘When you’re looking at what you can do to get better, you have to consider the possibility of what an injured player today might be able to do when he returns,’ said general manager Larry Riley, who can’t name players under contract with other teams. ‘A lot has been done down that road, and more will be done … It’s not a secret. We have either got to get the players we have to play better in and around the basket, or we have to get somebody else,’ Riley said. ‘That’s really where we are, so I might as well say it.’”

Per the Houston Chronicle, Rockets GM Daryl Morey is being “extremely active” prior to the trade deadline, with the main goal being to land a big man: “The retooling of the Rockets is on hold, with trade conversations around the NBA in limbo while waiting for the major domino in Denver to fall. But according to several individuals familiar with the Rockets’ involvement in talks, the Rockets expect either big changes to the roster or a small change involving the addition of a big man. ‘They will be extremely active,’ one person involved in talks said. ‘Daryl (Morey, the Rockets’ general manager) is talking to a lot of teams. He feels a lot of pressure to make some changes.’ With the NBA trade deadline two weeks away, Morey has stepped up his pursuit of a center, several individuals said. Everything from the Rockets’ expiring contracts, including the remaining months of Yao Ming’s deal largely paid by insurance, to the Rockets’ younger talent have been a part of talks. Though Morey’s primary goal is to land a centerpiece star, he would be happy to come away from the Feb. 24 trade deadline with a starting center.”

Much of the basketball universe howled in disbelief and anger when Kevin Love was omitted from the All-Star reserves, and Love joined in the chorus. The Star Tribune reports: “I truly and firmly believe in my heart that, solely on play alone, I should have been in there,’ [Love] said. Coaches considered other factors — namely winning — when they cast their ballots for players in their own conferences, and this year Western Conference coaches chose, among others, San Antonio’s Tim Duncan, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Pau Gasol and Los Angeles Clippers rookie Blake Griffin … His 15.5 rebounding average leads the NBA by nearly two boards a game. Orlando’s Dwight Howard is next at 13.6 a game. But it was one other number that influenced the coaches’ vote more than any other: 11, which is how many times the Wolves have won. ‘When it comes down to it, the 11 with the 36 or 37 behind it, that kind of killed me,’ Love said. ‘We know why I didn’t make it … I know winning plays a big factor. I didn’t want to be too upset. I’m not too bitter about it.’ Now he waits for NBA Commissioner David Stern to decide who will replace injured Houston center Yao Ming, who was voted the West’s starting center by fans. Love’s last chance to play in the All-Star Game on Feb. 20 in L.A. depends upon Stern’s decision. The NBA said Thursday there’s no definitive timetable for Stern to make that decision. ‘We’ll just have to wait and see,’ Love said of Stern, who must also consider Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge and the Lakers’ Lamar Odom, among others. ‘No matter how you get in, it doesn’t matter. If I make it that way, I still feel like I’m very deserving.’”

Despite being physically unable to take part in any game, let alone the All-Star bonanza, Yao Ming was neverthless voted in by his legion of fans as the starting center. Now, a replacement must be found.

Chandler, who amazingly wasn’t even on the All-Star ballot this year, is hoping someone will notice his solid contributions to the Mavs and find a way to make sure he locks up a spot on the West squad. “It’s not up to me, it comes down to the coaches,” Chandler said. “I just hope they look at what I’ve done this year for my team, and I hope they look at it that way … It would mean a lot to me (to make the West team), being my first time,” he said. “If it happens and for me to able to play in front of my friends and family in LA, it would mean an awful lot to me.”

Chandler averages 9.6 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.22 blocks for the 30-15 Mavs. Among Western Conference centers he is third in rebounding, seventh in scoring and eighth in blocks..

“It’s not my call,” [Pau Gasol] said of a possible replacement for Yao. “One player or another it doesn’t matter. … Who makes that call? Commissioner picks. You’ve got to call him up. I can’t call him up.” [Gasol] did agree ‘there’s a chance” he could be picked.

Gasol has the clear and obvious advantage over Chandler — his stats are inarguably more impressive in every meaningful category, the Lakers have a better record than Dallas, and um, the All-Star Game is being played in L.A. It’d be shocking if Pau didn’t get the nod.

There are no surprises when it comes to the guys who will start during next month’s big game in Los Angeles. The obligatory Yao Ming inclusion is no longer shocking at this point: “Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, a three-time All-Star MVP, is this year’s leading vote-getter in the NBA All-Star Balloting program presented by T-Mobile with 2,380,016 votes. It is Bryant’s 13th consecutive All-Star selection; only Jerry West, Karl Malone and Shaquille O’Neal, with 14 straight nods each, have more. Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard, the second leading vote-getter overall with 2,099,204, paced the Eastern Conference.”

After going under the knife, Yao released a statement that did nothing to clarify what the future holds for his career. The Houston Chronicle reports: “Yao Ming’s first decision was not difficult. He did not have much of a choice and opted to undergo surgery Thursday to repair the fracture in his left ankle. The next decision remains less certain. Yao, 30, indicated in a statement Thursday that he has not decided whether to try another comeback and return to the court, though many of his consultations with physicians have been about the prospects for continuing his career, an indication that he hopes to play again. Yao faces seven to 10 months of rehabilitation, according to Rockets team physician Dr. Walter Lowe. After six consecutive seasons with bone injuries, Yao, 7-6, has not said if he will attempt to resume his career next season. ‘I’d like to thank everyone for their ongoing support,’ Yao said in a statement. ‘I know this will be another long rehab, but I’m looking forward to beginning my recovery. I will use this time to consider all of my options and will make a decision regarding my career plans as I get closer to the end of my rehab.’”

Sometimes, I have a lot of thoughts and opinions on some happenings that have occurred in the world of the NBA. But many times, I don’t have the conviction to write 700 words on every singular subject of interest — but I may have a bunch of short bits to communicate en masse, on occasion. And so I’ll be Sounding Off on occasion. Holler.

It’s fairly obvious to most people with a pulse who’ve followed the NBA this year that Los Angeles Clippers rookie power forward Blake Griffin is having a phenomenal year (so is Eric Gordon, relatively). The other obvious thing to note is that the Clippers still suck and are “achieving” greatly in sucking, but that’s no surprise. I call those fairly obvious points forth because it appears that woefully injured Houston Rockets center Yao Ming will be the leading vote-getter for the 2011 All-Star Game in Los Angeles, but he’ll be out of that, so there is the issue of a dutiful, worthy replacement. Outside of Minnesota Timberwolves‘ forward Kevin Love and Los Angeles Lakers‘ power forward/center Pau Gasol, I can think of no better replacement than Blake.

His team is terrible, but that hasn’t meant that his play is less than. Remember when people were putting Chris Bosh on the All-Star Team for the East when he was with the Toronto Raptors? His teams were sorry then, but no one really created much of an issue about it, because he was good, and good enough to still have coaches respect his play, despite how lame his team was. Blake would be great to start there, but even if he doesn’t start, he should still get on the team. If Blake doesn’t make the team, it would match the nonsensical act of leaving then-Cleveland Cavs rookie LeBron James off of the 2004 All-Star team, despite Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce having in an inferior year by comparison. (Note: That last statement wasn’t a numerically based opinion; I watched Paul that year. He was mailing it in and pouting his way through that season and wasn’t the best option over LBJ when he was a 20-5-5 rookie.)

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I don’t understand the people who make basketball decisions when it comes to Larry Brown. I know Larry’s charismatic, I know he’s an old-timer with a pedigree, I know he’s been around the game for half-a-century. We all know this about Larry Brown, because that’s what gets him his jobs. Though it may not be a popular opinion, for just for the sake of career comparison, Larry Brown is a hooker. Or at least he plays one on TV. Seriously, think about it:

He goes on the NBA equivalent of a corner (in front of a microphone or reporter’s pen and pad), waves his hands around (glares into the camera…) and makes a paradoxically, subtly large move for some NBA general manager to notice him (“sources” will report he “loves” the way [whatever team he falls in lust with at the moment] runs their ballclub). Then he’ll talk his way into a “car” (negotiate with another team through his lawyer or agent while still employed by another squad), the money’s exchanged (said negotiation comes to an agreement with team for a position he’s has yet to walk into because he’s still coaching another team — usually in the Playoffs, of all times), and by the time the 15 minutes of play time are up (1-3 seasons, depending on how “sick” of the team he is), the team that agreed to get serviced is contemplating backhanding him for his poor execution (the team that Larry’s pulling the run-around on finds out he’s gotten into bed with another franchise, becomes indignant, and has to save face). It sounds rough, but the truth is raw.

And yes, I know, I know — “He’s a champion,” “he’s a winner” and this and that, but he’s a hooker. And even he loves to save his best performances for the camera, so he’s got a dual career as an actor, too. Even porn stars get awards. It’s annoying to me that as great as a teacher he is, he’s so loathing of the situations that he practically begs to get in. It’s insane, and then he whines when he doesn’t have his way just to a “T,” leaves the team (with his guaranteed money, mind you), and somehow, just somehow, he still has that bright and shiny new car smell, even though we know he’s been tricking for years now. It just needs to end, and teams really need to quit letting him have his way. It’s mindless, and it usually sets teams back somehow, because he doesn’t leave them much better off after he’s done with them; his favored personnel (that he stomps his feet about and insists upon) may or may not be malleable enough as a collective roster for the team to trade away or be used in the way that another successor can easily make due with.

He may bring your team into the Playoffs and help bring up those attendance numbers for your home games for a little while, but I’m telling you right now, Various NBA Teams, that the return on your investment in him is going to be disappointing in the long-term scheme of things. Larry Brown isn’t Julia Roberts, so I ask that you please quit treating him as such. Wiving him up could lead you to your imminent demise. Protect your assets. (No pun intended.)

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Sandy Dover is a novelist/writer, artist, and fitness enthusiast whose work has been published by US News, Yahoo!, featured in Robert Atwan’s “America Now“, and now in Buckets and Playmaker magazines. You can find Sandy frequently here at SLAMonline, as well as at Facebook and Twitter.

According to the local press, nothing definitive is on the table, but what was once unfathomable is certainly now an option. The Houston Chronicle reports: “As Yao Ming ponders his medical options, and whether he wants to even try another comeback, the Rockets will have some choices to make, too. Yahoo.com reported that the Rockets are ‘exploring’ trading Yao’s contract, in its final months, as incentive to a deal with a team that will be moved for the cost saving of such a large, expiring contract, with up to $8 million (depending on when there is a deal) covered by insurance. Yao need not pack his bags, yet, and not because he will never play again under his current contract, or because the Rockets remain open to signing him again whether he is dealt or not. The offer of the Yao cost savings is one way to get a team interested in a deal. It is not the only one. It’s not more likely than the others, not yet anyway. According to one person with knowledge of the Rockets’ thinking, a deal is unlikely until much closer to the February trade deadline. When asked if trading Yao’s contract is more likely to make a deal than the other means to entice cost-cutting teams, the individual said, ‘I can’t even predict which is more likely.’ As mentioned in the previous blog entry, the Rockets can (and would) help a team cut costs by taking on a contract that fits into their $6.33 million trade exception or one that fits into the $5.8 million disabled player exception they expect to receive from the league. If they found a team desperate enough to clean house, they could even offer both exceptions to accept the contracts of two players that fit into those numbers. The player they want does not have to necessarily match those exception figures. They could come to agreement that fits the trade requirements to get that player and provide incentive with a simultaneous, but separate deal for the exception to prove the cost-savings other teams want. So far, no one has offered a deal that interests the Rockets, not for the salary-cap exceptions or the $17.7 million last season of Yao’s contract. To take back that much in matching contracts, the Rockets would have to get something they covet, especially since the contracts coming their way are unlikely to be in their final season.”

They’ve put in the request to the League office, and GM Daryl Morey expects the NBA to grant it. The Houston Chronicle reports: “With center Yao Ming out for the season, the Rockets on Monday began the process of seeking a disabled-player exception from the NBA, general manager Daryl Morey confirmed. The Rockets expect to have the exception granted, which will allow them to trade for a player without matching salaries, up to the value of the mid-level exception of $5.765 million. The exception also would be an option to sign a free agent. Because Yao’s injury occurred before Nov. 30, the Rockets would have 45 days to use the exception, beginning on the day they could have been expected to uncover the injury, which was last Thursday. The Rockets also have a trade exception worth $6.33 million from the Trevor Ariza-Courtney Lee deal. The exceptions are potentially valuable because they could allow the Rockets to take on salary from a team that is cost-cutting as a way to sweeten a separate but simultaneous deal.”

The Rockets‘ big was the best center in the L for a brief minute, but injuries have become too much for the 7-6, 320+-pound Yao to handle. The Houston Chronicle reports:

Yao Ming’s season is certainly over. Less certain is whether his career will end, too.

Rockets team physician Walter Lowe said Friday that surgery is the “usual course of action” and “the smartest course of action.” Surgery would require seven to 10 months of rehabilitation to return to the court. Yao had not chosen a treatment plan and could opt to immobilize his left foot and ankle in the hopes it could heal on its own.

Will we see Yao Ming on an NBA court again? It depends on whether Yao wants to dedicate himself to playing.

A proud new father, Yao isn’t exactly stressed about his latest setback. As he told ESPN‘s Ric Bucher: “I haven’t died. Right now I’m drinking a beer and eating fried chicken. What were you expecting, a funeral?”

Condolences to Yao, who very well may be calling it quits for good with this latest setback. From the Houston Chronicle: “Rockets center Yao Ming’s comeback suffered another devastating setback with a stress fracture found Thursday morning in his left ankle. The injury is not in the same area as the previous stress fracture, but it is a major setback. Tests taken after his Nov. 10 sprained ankle and subsequently did not show the injury. Yao had said in the offseason that he would consider retirement if he had been unable to stay healthy.”

Let’s just say that the Yao and the medical staff in Houston aren’t seeing eye-to-eye these days, and it has nothing to do with the height difference. From the Chronicle: “Yao Ming said he feels like he is ready to play . The Rockets center has not been cleared to rejoin the team’s workouts because team doctors want him to strengthen the muscles in his left ankle, weakened since his Nov. 10 injury. ‘I’m waiting for the green light,’ Yao said. ‘When? I don’t know. I feel better. It still has some weakness. I’m just not ready to sit out for almost 20 games, particularly when I feel I’m OK. I know when I was in the walking boot, on the crutches, OK, I understand. I won’t push the trainer or the doctor. They all try to treat me the best that they can. I know they try to find the best way for me to get back on the court.’ Yao would not say if he would be playing if the decision were his to make, but when asked if he has made it known how he feels, he laughed and said, ‘I tell them every day.’ Coach Rick Adelman said he has not been told when Yao will be cleared to practice.”

The medical staff in Houston won’t give Yao the green light to get back on the court just yet. The Chronicle reports: “Rockets center Yao Ming, after hoping to return from his sprained and bruised left ankle in time to play tonight, was held out of Monday’s practice and remains out. ‘Every day is closer,’ Yao said. ‘It’s just not strong enough to support me running, jumping. I think they made the decision based on that.’ Yao said he was not given a timetable for his return, but said he will try to practice on Wednesday. ‘It’s all up to the medical people, what they said,’ Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. ‘They just feel it wasn’t the right time.’”

For the increasingly depressed (and depressing) Rockets, the news keeps getting worse and worse. The Houston Chronicle reports: “Yao Ming, who has been out for a week with a sprained left ankle, will miss at least two more weeks after an examination Thursday found a bone bruise in the ankle. Yao could be out longer to work on his conditioning after the time off. The examination performed by Dr. Tom Clanton showed no complications with the surgery to restructure Yao’s left foot with the problem isolated to the recent ankle injury.”

Considering Yao‘s medical history, the Rockets have to be happy with how long their big fella will be out this time around. From the Houston Chronicle: “Hours before the Rockets could exhale a sigh of relief with the MRI on Yao Ming’s left ankle showing no more than ‘a mild sprain,’ they boarded a bus to Conseco Fieldhouse while he limped to a car to take him to his latest round of tests. Optimism, battered by a 1-6 start, sank. The tests confirmed the locker room diagnosis. Yao was scheduled to return to Houston this morning and will miss at least a week. The Rockets went into Thursday worried the day could end with much worse news. But even with the best-case scenario result of one test, the Rockets’ others this season have not gone so well, with the team struggling with changing lineups and failing late in games. They knew they would have to replace their 7-6 center often this season, with Yao limited to no more than 24 minutes per game and barred from playing games on consecutive days. But their renewed hope after Sunday’s win was based in part on Yao’s improved play, with progress in his comeback so significant that talks had begun about changing his playing-time limits.”

Well, well, well. So much for that “strict” 24-minute limit for the big fella … From the Houston Chronicle: “The Rockets medical staff is exploring through a series of on-going meetings, changing the limits on Yao’s playing time because of the progress he has made in his comeback, a team representative said on Tuesday. The discussions could lead to an increase in his playing time from the limit of 24 minutes per game, changes in the way his minutes are distributed throughout the game and clearance to play both games of back-to-backs. Yao has played and practiced without any complications, but has seemed increasingly frustrated with the limits on his playing time and especially with having to miss games when the Rockets play two games in as many nights. Though Yao said Tuesday that there have been no changes in the plan, after sitting out Friday’s game in San Antonio, the second time this season he has been out because a game was part of a back-to-back, he seemed to be especially eager to be cleared to play every game. ‘The team needs to play consistently,’ Yao said. ‘That means you need a consistent lineup. A guy who is a starting center being on and off, on and off, I think that’s not good for a team. That’s why I think playing back-to-back for me and for teammates is very important.’”

Its no secret that Dwight Howard’s offensive game has come a long way since last season ended, but according to MagicBasketball.net his usage rates have never been higher. “Mind you, Howard doesn’t need to remind many people that he’s the best center in the league but for those that like to insert Yao Ming’s name in the discussion when he’s healthy or Pau Gasol if they want to bend the positional rules a little bit, the first five games of the regular season have provided a refresher course for them… Never before has Howard been as involved offensively as he is now. So far in the season, Howard’s usage rate is 32.1 percent. To put that number in perspective, Howard’s usage rate in 2009 was 26.1 percent — the highest of his career. Howard is getting the basketball as much as the Kevin Durant’s of the world, and that’s something that’s never happened to him before.”

On opening night in Los Angeles, Houston looked like the better team for the better part of their tilt against the Lakers. The Rockets lost the game down the stretch, though, falling to Kobe and co., 112-110.

Two weeks and four games later, an 0-5 Houston team is still looking for its first win of the young season.

So what’s ailing H-Town?

While Yao Ming is back after missing the 2009-10 season, he’s hardly had the impact expected of him. Maybe it’s rust, maybe it’s the Rockets run-and-cut system, maybe it’s the 24-minute limit. Whatever it is, though, it’s not good. For the center, or the team.

Throw the League’s worst point per game defense and a disgruntled player—Jermaine Taylor, who tweeted, “Beyond frustrated…feels like I’m being lied 2″—into the mix and Houston has itself a real problem.

Of course, it’s still early in the season, and the Rockets have an abundance of talent. So a real problem may end up simply being a temporary problem. Still, it’s never too early to get nervous.

For Yao, there are plenty of issues for his winless Rockets. In fact, nothing seems to be working in Houston. From the Chronicle: “The frustration was evident with every barely audible word. Yao Ming had gone through his postgame work out, but it had done little to soothe his dissatisfaction with the Rockets’ 0-3 start. Losses, as always, had prompted the examination of shortcomings. Yao made the Rockets’ problems clear. ‘Everything … You cannot say one or the other is making this team down right now,’ Yao said. ‘I think we have a lot of problems still. Defense. Offense. Everything.’”

I was in the midst of introducing this post with some FINALLY NBA SEASON sentiment when I realized, if you’ve visited this website (or any hoops/sports site) at all during the past week, you’ve probably been fed more than enough hype. Well, it’s here. The season, and The Post Up. Let’s get right to it. (But yeah… FINALLY NBA SEASON.)

So, this happened. After months and months of waiting for the Miami Thrice (Are we officially calling them that? Can we not?)to commence their journey to an as-of-yet unknown promised land, we get an 80-point performance and a half-decent showing from only a single member of the newly-formed South Beach triumvirate. Boston came out firing, and—with the exception of a late run that brought the Heat close but not close enough—dominated from the jump. LeBron James did what he could, dropping 31 on 10-21 with 4 boards and 3 assists, but there was simply no help to be had. Dwyane Wade was hungry, attacking the hoop and putting up shots from all over the court, but nothing would fall, and he finished with 13 points on 4-16 from the field. Chris Bosh was kind of apprehensive, seemingly unsure when to fire away and when to defer to his friends; he tallied just 8 points and shot 3-11. We’ve all assumed depth and outside shooting would be the team’s biggest issues, and we were proved correct—nobody from the bench (or the other two starting positions, for that matter) stepped up in the slightest (though Udonis Haslem did rebound fairly well), and a handful of wide-open J’s clanked off the rim. Chemistry—the squad’s third problem—can and will be worked out, but only time will tell if anyone steps up to assist in fixing the other two.

Meanwhile, the Celtics looked great. Rajon Rondo quarterbacked his ass off, distributing 17 dimes in beautiful fashion. I was hoping he’d added some offensive moves (read: a jump shot) this summer, but he wasn’t really pressed to put the ball up himself anyway. And yeah, that ability of his to find crazy passing angles just keeps improving. The Big Three were effective, as Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett (scoring 20, 19 and 10, respectively) each performed their assigned roles well, and while the Heat could barely throw five productive players on the court, the C’s rotation was a solid nine guys deep, and will be 10 when Perkins returns. They just need to stay healthy.

You might have missed it (though League Pass is free this week, so you shouldn’t have), but this was a great game. And that score doesn’t really do it justice; this was an exciting back-and-forth until the Blazers took off in the middle of the fourth. Portland has such an awesomely random cast of contributors, it’ll be interesting to see who steps up on any given night. Last night Nicolas Batum (19 points, 11 boards) was huge, and his buckets propelled the final-quarter run that won his team the game, but Wesley Matthews, Dante Cunningham, Armon Johnson and Rudy Fernandez all put in good minutes. Brandon Roy led the team with 24 points, while Marcus Camby (13 and 10) refuses to age. The Suns—with their abundance of small forwards and lack of big men—just can’t rebound or defend very well, which is a pretty big problem in a professional basketball league. (They were out-rebounded 48-30.) With Steve Nash (26-4-6 and 10-19 from the field) at the helm, they’re still incredibly fun to watch, but they won’t be more than a middle-of-the-pack franchise if the rebounding and defense woes continue. Without Amar’e, they can’t afford to be so weak in those areas and expect to win. Jason Richardson was Phoenix’s swingman du jour, hitting 9 of 13 for 22 points.

I guess the first night of NBA action had to end with a nail-biter, right? This one was another back-and-forth contest, and with a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, Aaron Brooks couldn’t squeeze a lay-up through Steve Blake and Lamar Odom’s flailing arms. Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol led the Lakers in a very Kobe-and-Pau-Gasol-like fashion, as Kobe put up 27 points, 7 assists and 5 boards and Gasol went for 29 and 11. Shannon Brown caught fire in the fourth, scoring 14 of his 16 in a seven-minute span to help L.A. grab the lead in the final minutes. For the Rockets, both Kevin Martin and Aaron Brooks were great (26 and 24 points, respectively), while Luis Scola grabbed 16 rebounds. Yao Ming fouled out in 23 minutes, which was all good, given his team-enforced 24-minute limit. He had 9 points and 11 rebounds in his return.

That’s it for now, folks. Tonight we’ve got a packed schedule, so tomorrow there should be plenty more to talk about. One quick note before I’m out: The SLAM authorities gave me free range to write The Post Up however I feel comfortable, and I’m still trying to figure out the best way to do so. I might be tweaking the format in the next few weeks, and maybe adding some features (a nightly award or two?), so if you have any preferences or ideas, feel free to hit me with ‘em in the comments. Thanks, fam.

Everyone is paying tons of attention to the happenings in Miami and Los Angeles, which is understandable. But what’s your favorite subplot outside of those cities? Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Kyle Lowry said he felt like a member of the Beatles. Chuck Hayes made the same comparison but swapped the Fab Four with Jackson 5.

No, the Houston Rockets haven’t let their 95-85 exhibition win over the New Jersey Nets in Guangzhou, China, get to their heads. They were referring to the day before their game, when the entire Rockets team and staff, along with Clyde Drexler, Darryl Dawkins, and Micheal Ray Richardson, showed up at the Guangzhou Sports University for a basketball clinic with children in need. The team bus was hounded by screaming fans two blocks before they arrived at the location, and although their 7-5 center got top billing, it was obvious everyone on the team got the rock star treatment.

From being greeted by screaming fans to doing basketball drills with children from the Guangzhou School for the Deaf, this trip was an eye opening experience for the team, said Rockets coach Rick Adelman at a press conference later.

Inside the gym, star-struck and giddy children shot hoops with Yao Ming, worked on their defensive stance with Clyde The Glide, and, if they were able to, probably would have mouthed off with the Chocolate Thunder as well.

Including their first stop in Shanghai, the Rockets and the Nets were in China for nearly two weeks, and many got a better understanding of why the League focuses intensive marketing efforts on China.

“I never thought I’d ever be in China as a kid,” said Terrence Williams. “But man, am I glad I came here, I went to the Great Wall and everyone was saying hello to me, they all watch the game here.”

As for the exhibition, considering Yao only played 19 minutes and was often the last man jogging back up court, perhaps it’d be a stretch to say he is back. But the center—whose foot problems have knocked him out of action for more than a year—hasn’t lost his soft shooting touch (5-8 FG, including a couple of smooth skyhooks) and, with over 16,000 fans chanting his name during the game, is still going to be the face of the team.

Despite going 0-2 to the Rockets in China, Nets coach Avery Johnson said postgame that he was satisfied with his team’s performance. “We need to work on our offense a bit, but I thought we played hard and stayed competitive,” he said.

But, as much as players and coaches hate to admit this, the truth is that exhibitions are almost meaningless and hardly a barometer for judging a team. The only thing we can take from this set of exhibition games is this: basketball is the most popular sport in China.

Should Andrew suffer yet another knee injury, Phil Jackson tells the LA Times that he may be put on the Yao Ming program: “It’s not going to happen this season, the Lakers hope, but Andrew Bynum might be forced to play limited minutes as a career situational player if he suffers one more serious knee injury, Coach Phil Jackson said Tuesday. Bynum has experienced knee problems the last three years, each injury different but nonetheless representing a pattern that has forced Jackson to contemplate the big picture. It wasn’t overly rosy. ‘We’re hopeful that this is the time he’s able to start playing consistently through a season,’ Jackson said. ‘If not, we’re going to have to look at Andrew as a short-minute guy, somebody like Yao Ming who’s going to be limited in the amount of minutes he plays.’”

You don’t understand Yao Ming. Admit it. You don’t understand where he came from as a rookie from Shanghai. You don’t get how hard he has worked to transcend cultures and basketball philosophies, and you certainly can’t begin to grasp the pain he has endured to recover from foot surgery. All you need to understand is this. Yao Ming, when healthy, is the best center in the NBA and the Houston Rockets’ title hopes rest on the success or failure of his return.

Critics of Yao Ming say that he is a finesse player, lacking the killer instinct it takes to carry a team to a deep playoff run. That couldn’t be further from the truth. In Game 1 of the 2009 playoff battle against the Los Angeles Lakers, Yao came back from an injury to score 8 points in the final minutes of the game on way to a 100-92 win in L.A. The career-threatening injury Yao is recovering from? He got that by playing through pain in Game 3 of that playoff series. Don’t get it twisted. Just because Yao doesn’t mug for the camera every time he dunks doesn’t mean he isn’t hungry.

There was another humble big man out of Houston who struggled to win a title early in his career, ultimately climbing the highest peak when he found a harmony with his clutch teammates. That man is Hakeem Olajuwon, fitting because Yao is the most skilled big man to play in the Association since “The Dream.” What he does at his size is in complete contradiction with the laws of physics. Let’s go the tape for an example:

To understand the importance of Yao Ming, we have to strip away the YouTube and ESPN highlight mentality we’ve so eagerly grown attached to. You’ll never catch Yao on an AND 1 Mixtape or popping his jersey. At some point we decided that was a bad thing. But, like yin to yang, Yao has merged the selfless culture of China with the individualistic nature of the NBA, and somehow he never leans too far in one direction. And still we want more. We want him to be like us, assuming that is the correct form of existence. But to ask Yao not to involve his teammates and play selfishly is like asking Ron Artest not give shout outs to Queensbridge. Both players’ cultures are so deeply ingrained in them that it has become second nature.

The impact Yao has on basketball is just as heavy off the court as on it. In a sport where image is everything, most fans immediately jump to the names LeBron and Kobe as the most recognizable faces in the sport. Wrong again. You can keep the states of Ohio or Florida, LeBron. Los Angeles loves Kobe. That’s nothing. Yao has introduced the NBA to China, a country whose population is well over a billion people. In an ever-growing international sport that increasingly continues to blur the lines of sport and business, Yao Ming is every bit as important of a brand name as whatever other NBA star that you want to throw out.

How great Yao Ming is can be somewhat qualified by how high he ranks on the list, even as he recovers from foot surgery that will limit him to 24 minutes a game, according to head coach Rick Adelman. That has been the one true downside to Yao’s career, the eternal what if. What could have been a Hall of Fame career has been unmercifully cut short nearly every season. I’ve said it before. Yao Ming’s greatest opponent is his own body. That said, he will go down as one of the most gifted basketball players ever.

That’s not to say you can’t disagree about where Yao Ming belongs in the ranks of centers in the NBA. This is America, a land founded on a platform of democracy, after all. Just keep in mind that players you will offer in opposition, like Dwight Howard, have been dominated by Yao. In their match-ups, Howard averages 12.2 points and 9.8 rebounds against Yao, while the “Shanghai Slammer” puts up 23 and 10 on average versus “Superman.” And if you’re about wins, as you should be, the Rockets are 7-2 all time when the two centers meet. In our country, we call that scoreboard.

Most NBA fans have underestimated Yao Ming his entire career. Charles Barkley bet that Yao wouldn’t score 19 points in a game his rookie season. Yao proved him wrong and Barkley ended up kissing his ass, from a certain point of view.

Still, critics will continue to doubt Yao as long as he plays. That’s OK. Yao Ming isn’t concerned with your opinion of him. He doesn’t care how many Twitter followers he has. What matter to him is dedication to his sport and how he can help the players and people inside his circle succeed. They, in return, love him for it. Yao plays the game the only way he knows how to; the right way. You can continue to doubt Yao Ming. He’s already beaten the odds by becoming a superstar in the NBA. That may seem foreign to you but it’s the world that Yao lives in every day. You just got lost in the translation.

Due to injuries, Yao Ming has played in an average of just 59 regular season games over the past four seasons. This, obviously, isn’t ideal for his employer, the Houston Rockets. So, they’re going to do something (somewhat drastic) about it.

Next season, no matter what, the Rockets say Yao will not be allowed to play a nanosecond more than his allotted 24 minutes per night.
The Houston Chronicle reports that the only possible exception when it comes to the big fella’s playing time, would be during the Playoffs:

Yao’s playing time will not average 24 minutes; it will end there. If he plays 22 minutes in one game, he will not play 26 the next. For that matter, if he plays two minutes one game, he will not play 26 the next. When Yao reaches his 24 minutes, he will be through for that game. When Yao plays one night, he will skip much of the practice the next day, with the Rockets so determined to limit the demands on Yao that Jones and associate athletic trainer Jason Biles have already outlined Yao’s workout schedule from the start of camp Sept. 25 through the last game of the regular season.

“Twenty-four is his number all year,” Jones said. “Playoffs come, things could change. We’re trying to get him through April. We’re trying to give him the best chance to play the whole season by limiting stress. Even practices, if we play on Monday and play again on Wednesday, can he practice on Tuesday? No. He’ll practice, but he won’t scrimmage.”

Yao also is likely to be held out of the second half of back-to-backs, though that might not be the policy for the entire season … Jones is certain, however, that Yao’s expected lobbying efforts will not change the plan. “Yao is his own worst enemy,” Jones said. “He feels good and wants to go. We will be fighting him every day. I know we will. He’s going to feel good. He??s going to want to do more. He’s going to question us. He’s going to question the doctor. That’s Yao. He’s a competitor. We’re just trying to reduce the stress.”

This will certainly be a fascinating experiment to observe in Houston throughout the season, with the team trying so desperately to limit how much its best player can contribute night in and night out (while simultaneously fighting for a high Playoff seed).

The Rockets say they may also try to reduce other veterans’ minutes — Shane Battier and Luis Scola, for instance — during the regular season.

The Rockets’ starting center appears to be healthy and ready to go. What are your expectations? Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

“That’s just the confidence (issue),” Yao, 29, said. “I still need to work on that. Compared to two months ago, it’s already a lot better. Two weeks ago, I could not even take off off my left foot. That thing, it’s in my head.”

The next step in Yao’s return to the court — removing those doubts — should be much easier to overcome than all those steps covered. Monday, he cleared perhaps the most important hurdle. An examination by Dr. Tom Clanton revealed that the hairline fracture in Yao’s left foot had healed, clearing him to work through full-contact workouts toward full scrimmages by the start of practices Sept. 25.

“I’m pretty confident,” Yao, 7-6, said when asked if he thought he would be the player he had been. “We just need to build on it every day. I’d like to be like Big Zeke (Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who played nine years in Cleveland after similar surgery.) I’m wishing, wishing long career, same city.”

Now, I’m not sure Big Z is the guy Rockets fans want to hear their franchise player aspire to be like, but it’s certainly better than moping about the possibility of retiring soon.

Yao Ming will get a chance to play on his home turf with the Rockets this October. From the AP: “The Houston Rockets will play two exhibition games in China against the New Jersey Nets, giving Yao Ming a chance to return to his home country. The NBA announced Wednesday that the teams would play Oct. 13 in Beijing at the Wukesong Arena, site of the 2008 Olympic basketball competitions, then Oct. 16 at the new Guangzhou International Sports Arena. This will be the NBA’s fifth set of preseason games in China and the second involving the Rockets, who drafted Yao with the No. 1 overall pick in 2002. They took part in the inaugural China games in 2004.”

Yao tells the Xinhua News Agency that his career may come to a sad end if his surgically-repaired foot doesn’t fully heal. The AP has the report: “In wide-ranging comments to Chinese state media on Monday, Yao sounded far from optimistic about his future and also made a rare criticism of China’s national basketball program. ‘If the foot injury does not heal next season, I might choose to call it quits,’ Yao said. Yao missed last season following foot surgery, but is set to return to the Rockets after deciding not to opt out of the final year of his contract. Though he has said his recovery was going well, the Rockets have signed 7-foot veteran Brad Miller to share the work at center. The 7-foot-6 Yao, who was in his native China for a series of charity events, all but ruled out playing for his country in the 2012 London Olympics. ‘The chance (to play in London) is very small. The foot injury will not allow me to play so many games anymore,’ Yao was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency. ‘Like I said before, I will quit the national team and the sport one day. It’s what happens to every athlete.’”

While Team USA held practice in Vegas, a team of NBA players were hard at work in China. English.news.cn has the story: “Milwaukee Bucks star Brandon Jennings scored 23 points to give his team, composed of NBA stars, a 101-95 victory over Chinese men’s national team here on Saturday. The 21-year-old Jennings sank 10 out of 17 shots, pocketing a match-high 23 to shine in the charity-oriented game, which witnessed an exchange of players from both sides in the second half. Toronto Raptors’ Amir Johnson added 21 for the NBA star team which also featured All-Star guard Steve Nash from the Suns, Clippers’ talisman Baron Davis, as well as Chase Budinger and Aaron Brooks from the Houston Rockets. Shooting guard Yu Shulong notched a team-high 15 for China and forward Yi Li added 14. Yao Ming, who launched the Charity tour, sat out Saturday’s game as the 2.26-meter center still was recovering from the reconstructive foot surgery in the last season. The Chinese national squad also missed some big names like Yi Jianlian of the Washington Wizards and scoring guard Liu Wei. The exhibition game is part of the Yao Foundation Charity Tour aiming to raise fund to help improve educational environment for poor children in Western China.”

Monster, leader in the manufacture and design of high-performance headphones and A/V accessories, today announced that it is partnering with Houston Rockets star center and China icon Yao Ming to develop a broad range of co-branded “Yao Monster” consumer electronics and lifestyle products for distribution in China. The alliance brings together the expertise of Monster in the development of advanced A/V technologies and its extraordinary acumen in the marketing of branded lifestyle experiences with the personal style, vision and adventuresome qualities of Yao Ming.

…

Yao Monster products will symbolize the very best attributes of Yao Ming as well as those of Monster Cable, the company founded by Noel Lee over 30 years ago. Mr. Lee, who worked closely with Yao Ming to create the Yao Monster product line, commented on the brand’s launch in China, noting: “While there is tremendous opportunity in the China marketplace, there are many barriers to expansive distribution that make it a challenge for companies seeking to penetrate the market. So, in developing the Yao Monster line, we went to great lengths to create products with strong appeal to China’s lifestyles and trends. We started our own company there using Chinese staff to be culturally connected to the market.”

…

Yao Ming noted: “Whether it’s a headphone, a bag or a music player, today’s products are not just about usage. A person’s choice also represents their style and the kind of life they want to live. Yao Monster products will be different from any existing consumer electronics products and will be designed to impact they way we relax, how we exercise, and how we inspire ourselves. They will bring people more real enjoyment in life, and let them feel the incredible excitement of a fusion of technology and life.”

Yao expresses doubts — doubts that all clear-eyed Rockets fans already had — about his future as a dominant basketball player. Xinhuanet has the report (via China Daily): “Yao Ming has managed to come back from devastating injuries before. Every time, the All-star center has returned to his Houston Rockets to be the backbone of the NBA team. But now, at the age of 30 and still recovering a serious foot injury, China’s greatest basketball player doubts he will ever reach such lofty heights again. ‘I have no idea if I can return the peak of my form,’ the seven-time All-star center told China Daily in an exclusive interview on Wednesday in Beijing. ‘I have not been tested. I have not played competitive basketball since the injury even in the training. I cannot answer if I will return to my best.’ Yao took a break from his rehabilitation in the US to come back to China last Friday to prepare for his charity basketball game in Beijing. He admits he is racing against time to get fit for the new NBA season, which starts in October. ‘The intensity of my training is going up gradually because at least I feel good about my injury,’ he said. ‘But talk about recovering my form is nothing but nonsense and will only be realized if I can get through the next season smoothly. Then, you will see results after that season.”‘

Welcome to the SLAMonline 2010 NBA Lottery Draft Diary, where we are all about the upside. Tonight’s Draft has us asking more questions than a rigged teleprompter for Ron Burgundy. Where will DeMarcus Cousins end up? How will the L.A. Clippers end up screwing this Draft up? Will Stuart Scott come out and discuss his bizarre love triangle with Michael Jordan and the North Carolina mascot? The suspense is killing me. We will offer commentary up through the top 14 picks.

6:17 p.m.- We’re 13 minutes from the Draft and we have our first Twitter reference. DeMarcus Cousins apparently Tweeted that he is nervous. Every lottery team’s GM replied by saying, “We are when we see you too, big guy.”

6:34- Could David Stern try not to smirk when he says New York is the home of the New York Knicks and the Liberty? He’s like the Emperor in Star Wars. The New York fans’ hatred of him only makes him stronger.

6:37- With the first pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, Washington selects…a government bailout! OK, they chose John Wall but is there a difference between the two? John Wall’s new nickname should be the Washington Lifesaver because there’s a huge hole in the center. Washington officially has become the Detroit Lions of the NBA. They’ve locked up all their money in point guards. With John Wall, Gilbert Arenas, Kirk Hinrich, Randy Foye and have to move Mike Miller. Get ready for a starting lineup intro that goes like this: “At center, the Tattooed Tower, Cherokee Parks!”

6:42- The Philadelphia 76ers select Evan Turner out of THE Ohio State University. I’ve never understood why Buckeyes make that distinction. As if we think of Ohio State, Virginia? Turner is ready to make an impact immediately in the NBA. I don’t know how I feel about his pairing with Andre Igoudala but Philly had to grab Turner. They will move Andre to the 3 spot. Jason Kapono is going to be pissed. Sigh. Philly looks good on paper but so have the Clippers for years.

6:48- The New Jersey Nets follow SLAMonline’s advice and choose Derrick Favors with the third pick. Anybody who compares him to Kwame Brown, and I’ve heard it from writers today, couldn’t be further off base. Favors has heart, he’s hungry and he’s got versatility on both ends of the court. Plus, his hands aren’t the size of a 4-year-old’s. Can you say the same about Kwame?

6:53- With the fourth pick, the Minnesota Timberwolves select the lovechild of Ronald McDonald and Kurt Cobain! Wait, that is Wesley Johnson in a yellow shirt and flannel pajamas! If he doesn’t make a name for himself in the NBA he will certainly go down in NBA Draft fashion infamy. Some will rip Minnesota for not taking DeMarcus Cousins but I like Johnson here. He’s smooth, explosive and will kill it in transition off Kevin Love’s outlet passes.

7:00- Ladies and gentlemen, the Sacramento Kings have officially put all of their eggs in one basket by taking DeMarcus Cousins with the fifth pick. I love Tyreke Evans and on the surface it looks like he will do work with Cousins, but it’s always a risk to take a player with character issues in the top 5. Sactown shouldn’t worry though because John Calipari has vouched for him and everyone knows his word is as good as…uh oh. Still, people tripped out on Sacramento for taking Tyreke last year and that worked out splendidly. Let’s hope it happens again.

7:06- Golden State takes Ekpe Udoh out of Baylor with the sixth pick. Could we be looking at a slimmer and more athletic version of Adonal Foyle? Both were shot block beasts. Golden State Warriors, the project player capital of the NBA!

7:12- Detroit gets their man with Greg Monroe at No. 7. This would have been my pick if I was the Golden State GM but hey, the Warriors are idiots. Monroe will help people forget Joe Dumars took Darko Milicic. Nah, nothing will ever take him off the hook for that but Monroe is selfless, a tremendous passer and has great court vision. He needs to develop more of a post game but he will get immediate playing time alongside Charlie Villanueva. Big East, represent!

7:18- The L.A. Clippers take Steve Urkel, aka Al-Farouq Aminu, with the eighth pick. I don’t know who started this trend toward “nerd chic” but it’s got to stop. I think Aminu took the term old school a bit too seriously. Looking like a cross between a member of De La Soul and Erick Sermon from EPMD does not work on draft night. People already don’t take your new team seriously. Don’t add to the laughter. Aminu is freakishly athletic and has many intangibles you ask for, but the fact is that he’s cursed by going to L.A.

7:24- The Utah Jazz selecting Gordon Hayward at No. 9 was as predictable as Lady Gaga admitting she has a penis. She hasn’t yet? Give it time. Hayward is everything you expect from a Utah player. He’s versatile, has a great basketball I.Q. and looks just nerdy enough to look like he’s related to John Stockton or Jeff Hornacek. There was no way he was getting past Basketball Jesus and the Indiana Pacers. Good pick by Utah.

7:31- With the ninth pick, the Indiana Pacers select Paul George, Danny Granger 2.0. The Fresno State product has unlimited shooting range and shot an impressive 90 percent from the free throw line. George needs to settle less on three-point shots and attack the basket. It remains to be seen if he is aggressive enough to fulfill all his potential but as he said, the sky is the limit in Indiana. It’s easier to say that when you’re so close to the ground floor. Sorry, Indy, but it’s true.

7:37- The New Orleans Hornets ignore my draft motto of never drafting the undersized white man and draft Cole Aldrich with the tenth pick. He’s a shot blocker who will work hard, as most players of his model will. What I’m trying to say is that if you loved Eric Montross then this is your guy.

7:41- Ric Bucher announces that Oklahoma City will get Aldrich and Morris Peterson for the 18th and 21st pick. It makes sense for New Orleans, who had to get some luxury tax relief and let Mo-Pete’s near six mil next season slide. OKC needs size and Aldrich will be in a much improved situation over his spot in New Orleans. Aldrich fits well and will have virtually no pressure offensively. Funny how having Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant can do that for you.

7:44- Memphis grabs freshman sensation Xavier Henry with the twelfth pick. Rudy Gay, welcome to Clipperland, home of oversized contracts and low expectations! He will fit in perfectly.

7:49- Welcome to Stuart Scott’s revisionist history. Stu said Ed Davis, Toronto’s pick at No. 13 out of North Carolina, broke out and emerged as a star in the 2009 NCAA season. Hmm, did he break out or was all the focus on Tyler Hansborough and Ty Lawson? Stuart, your bias is showing. I’m not saying Ed Davis won’t stand out. A broken wrist stunted his chance to shine his sophomore season for sure. Let’s just slow down on the hyperbole a bit. He’s a humble, high energy player that needs to gain size and learn to finish stronger at the rim. But the fact is that Toronto needs a power forward to replace Chris Bosh when…I mean if he leaves. Yes…if he leaves. Cough.

7:56- The bluegrass movement continues as another Kentucky player, Patrick Patterson, is picked by Houston to close out the lottery picks. He fits Houston’s philosophy perfectly. He’s mature, tough and will work his butt off to get playing time. Patterson’s ready to roll as soon as the season start and will bang down low. He will be undersized at his position but what player outside of Yao Ming isn’t on Houston. It’s not about the size of the player, it’s about the size of his heart. Patterson’s got that.

That puts a wrap on the NBA Lottery Draft Diary. We’re going to go work on our shot and see if we can’t squeeze our name in to the second round, seeing as there is an insane lack of point guard depth in this Draft. Here’s hoping all the lottery players go to sleep tonight without visions of Darko, Kwame and Sam Bowie dancing in their heads.

The Rockets received some encouraging news regarding their franchise player. From the Houston Chronicle: “Rockets center Yao Ming might not be back on the track quite yet, but he cleared a key hurdle Thursday to get there. An extensive physical on Yao’s repaired and restructured left foot, long considered an important milestone in his comeback, showed the rehabilitation progressing well, clearing Yao to move to more extensive running and on-court workouts. ‘We reviewed his most recent bone scans, and they indicate the healing is continuing at the expected rate,’ Rockets athletic trainer Keith Jones said. ‘He’s right where he should be with regard to his rehab. ‘He’s been able to increase his rehab conditioning to the point he is running at his full body weight. He’s been doing some limited on-court work, and he’s been able to go through those workouts with no discomfort. We feel good about his progress at this point, and we’re going to keep gradually elevating the intensity of his workouts within the parameters that our doctors have established.’ Yao has been running on a gravity control treadmill, increasing the percentage of body weight on the foot to allow Thursday’s exam to indicate how he responds to the workload. He also has been doing light shooting drills.”

Congrats to Yao, whose daughter was born in Houston yesterday, giving her dual citizenship in the US and China: “Rockets center Yao Ming’s wife Ye Li gave birth to a seven-pound, nine-ounce baby girl on Friday. The baby and Ye Li are both in good health. The family did not release the name of the baby. “I am very excited about the arrival of our daughter,” Yao Ming said in a statement. “This is a very special moment in our lives and we thank everyone for their kindness and support.”

Earlier this week an earthquake struck China, killing 589 people and leaving 10,000 injured. Everybody’s doing their part, and so is Yao Ming. He’s set up a hotline for North American Chinese residents to reach out to any family and friends who might have been impacted.

“Yao, out this season after left foot surgery, created a foundation in June 2008, about a month after a massive earthquake struck the Sichuan province. Yao created his foundation with a $2 million donation to rebuild schools in the affected area.

Yao said he’s not sure yet what role his foundation will play in the latest recovery effort.

“This happened now, so, we still don’t know,” Yao said. “Lot of questions. We have some experience now. Obviously, we can do better than last time.”

The hotline number is (718) 766-9636. A recorded message in English and Mandarin asks the caller to enter the phone number of the person they are trying to reach in China.”

The Rockets’ GM tells the team website that his big fella might not be 100% until next season’s Playoffs. Yikes: “On Yao Ming’s progress and the minutes he can play next year: ‘I don’t know. I think for sure by playoff time we think he can be 100 percent back, which is the most important time, obviously. He can be back to where he was last year when he was playing at a high level. What his exact ramp-up will be, I don’t think anybody knows exactly how that will happen. Yao is on schedule with the doctors. I think he’s at two-thirds of his body weight on the treadmill. Each week it ramps up a little bit and each week he’s responded great so we expect him to be back at the start of the preseason. If it’s not exactly that, we’re OK with it. Again, we’re focused on having him in the playoffs next year and clearly we’d like to have him for a large (percentage), if not all of the regular season as well.”‘

You know, because the summer of 2010 wasn’t going to be insane enough. Now, Yao hints at the Houston Chronicle that he’s considering opting out of his deal: “Though it has long been assumed Rockets center Yao Ming’s foot injury and extensive surgery would prevent him from opting out of his contract after this season, Yao said Saturday he was ‘not sure’ if the uncertainty with the NBA’s labor negotiations would lead him to become a free agent this summer. Yao, 29, said he has not considered his options, but was noncommittal about whether he might opt out of his contract. ‘I’m sure I’m not sure until after we discuss (it),’ Yao said. ‘We have not started (to) discuss it yet, so I’m not sure, either way. I have to talk to my agent first before we start to decide where I need to go. If you ask my agent, he will say, ‘I have to ask Yao and we will start discussing it.’ Yao’s agent, John Huizinga, had no comment. If Yao does not jump into the deep pool of 2010 free-agent talent, he is due to earn $17.7 million next season in the final year of his contract.”

I know, I know, The Links needs an update. That’s why I’m here right now. Actually, though, I was trying to not post anything for a minute. The truth is, I’m pacing myself: All-Star is just days away.

To me, All-Star Weekend has always been the most fun NBA event of the year. The Finals are great, and the Draft is cool and the games are tense, but All-Star really is a big party. We’ve always blown out the All-Star coverage here on SLAMonline, and we’ll be doing the same thing again this year. In fact, we’re going to try something a little different this year with the live blogs from the events, which will hopefully be funnier and even more interactive. (Oh, and I’m doing three different live NBA TV shows from Dallas, so keep it locked on NBA TV when the games aren’t on.)

Over the past decade, I’ve covered All-Star Weekends in Washington, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Phoenix. I’ve seen and done things most people wouldn’t get to experience. Here are some of the best and worst of All-Stars past…

BEST CELEBRITY AUTEUR
Philadelphia, 2002Just before the All-Star Game started, the Western Conference locker room was jammed full of media. Also, the ever-present L’il Bow Wow was there. The one player not getting interviewed was Dirk Nowitzki, who was sitting quietly on a table in the center of the room getting his ankles taped.

In the hallway outside the West’s locker room, Shaquille O’Neal was standing alone wearing a suit and a beret cocked jauntily to the side. Shaq and I were talking (I was getting quotes from Shaq for my next story in SLAM) when Stevie Francis came along wielding a video camera, narrating as he went.

“Now we’re going to go out to the court…” Steve said softly into the camera’s microphone. “Hey, there’s Shaq…This is the tunnel out to the court.”

I asked Steve who he was making this tape for, and he said, “Myself.”

WORST ANIMAL SIGHTING
Phoenix, 2009 It was twilight on Saturday night, and Ben and I were leaving the hotel to go to All-Star Saturday Night. As the sun crashed into the desert behind us, I made my way to the media shuttle bus, where I came across a group of three or four NBA volunteers in identical white polyester jackets pointing furiously at the top of a butte rising high behind the media shuttle bus. I hustled over, curious to see what was going on. Was it a UFO? A pot of gold?

“Look!” said one of the women, urgently. “It’s a black-tipped mountain sheep!”

I took a look and, sure enough, there was some sort of fluffy white animal atop the hill, sitting in the shade on a rock outcropping. There appeared to be some sort of upper body movement going on as well, but I couldn’t clearly discern what was happening.

The three older women in the volunteer jackets were totally engrossed. I asked if there were a lot of mountain sheep around the area.

“No, not really,” the ringleader volunteer said. “It must have escaped from the zoo.” She said this as if it was her final answer. This was not open for discussion.

“And the zoo, that’s about two or three miles away,” added one of the other volunteers. “It’s amazing it made it this far.”

Indeed, I thought, it’s amazing that a sheep escaped from the zoo and made it two or three miles and NOBODY SAW A SHEEP RUNNING AWAY FROM THE ZOO!

I still couldn’t get a good view of this alleged sheep, which was about 40 yards away from us high up on this hill. I started thinking about it — isn’t it goats and rams that can live on mountains? Sheep need grass and stuff, right?

“Do you have a camera?” The lead volunteer was desperate to document this. I lied and told her I didn’t have a camera and climbed onto the bus.

The bus driver was a man in his 40’s with gray skin, wearing an ill-fitting NBA baseball hat. As I walked past him he said in a conspiratorial whisper, “Hey buddy, you know that’s not a sheep, right?”

“I can’t even see it,” I said. “What is it then?”

“It’s a cat,” he said, disgust ringing in his voice.

I laughed and asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” he responded, smiling. “Sheep don’t lick themselves.”

ALL-TIME BEST ANSWER TO A QUESTION ON ALL-STAR MEDIA DAY
Atlanta, 2003Question: Why do you shoot so many threes?
Antoine Walker: Because they don’t have fours.

WORST DUNK CONTEST LOSER
Philadelphia, 2002In 2002, Jason Richardson beat Desmond Mason to win the dunk contest. Afterward, once the locker room cleared out, the dethroned champ Mason started packing up his gear. One ballboy picked up a sweatband that was embroidered with “JR-23″ and asked Desmond if it was his. The despondent Desmond said, “No, that’s Jason Richardson’s. You should burn that motherf***er.” (Somehow, the wristband in question would later end up on a table in the hotel room I shared with SLAM senior editor Ryan Jones. Jones had no comment.)

BEST YAO MING SIGHTING
Atlanta, 2003It was Yao’s rookie year, and Yao Mania was at a fever pitch. On Sunday afternoon, a couple of hours before the All-Star Game would tip off, the SLAM crew was on a shuttle bus from the hotel to Philips Arena, inching through the horrible Atlanta traffic. It was only about a mile from the hotel to the arena, and as we sat there in the gridlock, we wondered aloud if perhaps we should have just walked. Moments later, we saw a shuttle bus ahead of us open its door and Yao Ming step off, his athletic bag slung over his shoulder, as he set off on foot to start in his first All-Star Game. He actually walked the entire way to the game, while hundreds of fans sat trapped in traffic.

WORST TRAVEL FIASCO
Phoenix, 2009I don’t know how many times I’ve written here on SLAMonline that connecting flights are the worst idea ever invented. As a little tip from me, a veteran traveler, to you, never, ever take connecting flights. Ever. Never.

(For future reference, here are a few of my travel rules. Bookmark them and refer to them whenever necessary.)

That said, last year Ryne and I were booked on connecting flights on the Thursday night of All-Star Weekend, going from New York to Washington DC, then from DC to Phoenix. On that Thursday, it just so happened that New York City was so windy that Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt were allegedly driving around the JFK runways trying to release a bunch of ping-pong balls. Ryne and I eventually made it to D.C., hours late, and we missed the flight into Phoenix. The next flight on United from D.C. to Phoenix? The Tuesday after All-Star Weekend. We stood in a customer service line for nearly three hours, and when we finally got to the front of the line, the woman there, bless her heart, was very helpful. She wrote out about 5 or 6 options for us and put us standby on several flights. And that was about all she could do.

So Ryne and I spent the night in Dulles Airport, which was deserted and dark and quiet. I never did go to sleep, and I roamed the empty concourses feeling like Will Smith in *I Am Legend*, spotting only intermittent signs of life. I finally found the one newsstand in the entire airport that was open all night, and there were several stranded travelers milling about, like we’d all happened upon this singular source of life.

Early the next morning, Ryne and I got onto a flight into Denver, and then in Denver we sprinted over and caught a flight into Phoenix about 18 hours later than we were supposed to arrive. But at least we got there.

BEST FOUND ITEM
Washington, 2001After the Rookie/Sophomore Game players left the media availability area, Russ and I found an envelope laying face-down on a table. We picked it up, flipped it over and saw “Stephen Jackson” printed on it, along with an NBA logo. We looked inside and saw it was filled with tickets and passes to every event of All-Star Weekend. Hey, nobody ever said Stephen Jackson was well-organized. Against our better wishes, we turned it over to the proper authorities.

FUNNIEST/TERRIBLE TRAVEL FIASCO
New Orleans, 2008Our crew that year included myself, Ben, Sam and Khalid. We flew out of Newark airport really early on Friday morning, and the airport was a mess for some reason. For even less-clear reasons, Sam and Khalid decided to check their luggage, even though this is specifically against my time-tested travel rules.

We were flying on Delta, and supposed to go from Newark to Cincinnati, and then change planes and go on to New Orleans. Of course we didn’t make our connecting flight in Cincinnati, and for reasons that are still unclear to this day, Delta’s automated customer service machine immediately put Ben on another flight to Atlanta and then to New Orleans; Sam, Khalid and I were given tickets telling us to see the people at customer service.

I went up and talked to them, and was told there wasn’t any way for us to get to New Orleans that night. For a while it appeared that we’d have to spend the night in Cincinnati, which was a far cry from New Orleans on All-Star Weekend. Sam, Khalid and I sat down in the vapid Cincinnati airport trying to figure out our next step. Delta gave us $7 food vouchers so we could get something to eat. Khalid was fed up, and he yelled, “What kind of man eats a $7 meal!?” A minute later, Khalid pulled out a book called “Black Pain.”

As it turned out, so many people missed their flights and were getting piled up in Cincinnati that Delta organized what was basically an unlisted flight to Atlanta. They asked if we wanted to get to Atlanta, and I said yes, figuring it was closer to New Orleans than Cincy. So we took a half-full plane to Atlanta, where once we arrived we were told if we hurried we could get on a flight to Baton Rouge. Again, figuring it was closer to New Orleans than Atlanta, I agreed.

Sam, Khalid and I had to run through the airport, which was difficult because Sam had inexplicably decided to wear flip-flops to travel in, and we made the flight to Baton Rouge. Once in Baton Rouge, Sam rented a car, while we found out, unsurprisingly, that Sam and Khalid’s luggage had been lost many hours earlier. Khalid was mostly upset that the Baton Rouge airport only had one computer to track all the luggage. We ended up driving into New Orleans and arriving around 10:30 PM.

The next morning, Sam had to return the rental car. As he wrote at the time…

As you know by now, we had to rent a car in Baton Rouge to drive here, and that car needed to be returned a few miles away from out hotel. I drove there, dropped it off, paid the ridiculous bill, and the whole process took about 15 minutes. I stepped out into the street to look for a cab or think about walking back, and as is prone to happen I was right in the middle of a feed the hungry parade. So I marched with hundreds of 12 year olds for a few blocks, behind the marching band, and then they suddenly turned left.

I was all alone on “the wrong side of the tracks.” This was not the touristy safe part of New Orleans. There is a place that is called Tent Town I believe, where the homeless live in tents under the freeway. It was a lot like the current season of The Wire, where the lying reporter spent the night with Baltimore’s homeless. One guy seemed to be walking straight at me. I’ve been in bad neighborhoods before, dodged muggings, been chased. But this time, I tensed up and I really thought he was about to stab me…

No knife, no stab wound. Back to work. By work I mean brunch.

Remember, Sam didn’t have any clothes. So he was walking down Canal Street and saw a men’s clothing store eponymously named Rubenstein’s, so of course he went in. They sold him a dress shirt that looked more appropriate for the Player’s Ball than All-Star Weekend. But even better was that Sam didn’t try it on at the store, so that evening when he got dressed for All-Star Saturday Night, he had on a tight pimp shirt. Unfortunately for the rest of us, his luggage eventually showed up.

On Sunday night after the All-Star Game, we hit Bourbon Street, where Sam ordered a drink called Blue Crack.

WORST TIP
Philadelphia, 2002One of the bellhops at the Marriott where the players were staying in Philly came over to me and put Wang Zhi Zhi on blast because he had only given the bellhop a $1 tip.

In retrospect, I’m not even sure what Wang Zhi Zhi was doing at All-Star Weekend.

BEST NARROWLY-AVOIDED DISASTER
Atlanta, 2003It was Friday night in Atlanta, and after Russ and I attended the Celebrity game, coached by Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley, we got hungry around 10:00 PM. We were in the Jam Session, where there were a couple of food courts set up, but I couldn’t figure out how it worked, as people just seemed to be coming and going without any money changing hands. So I secretly followed Hawks television announcer Bob Rathbun, who walked in and served himself up a plate of chips and salsa and walked out. Then it hit me: The whole thing was free!

Russ and I went in and served ourselves a few plates of steak, potatoes and salad. We were standing at a table eating when we heard a commotion behind us at a paella stand — banging pots and pans and people yelling. A fire had broken out near the stove, and flames were shooting high into the air. No one really seemed sure of what to do. One cook ran over with a small glass of liquid that he threw on the fire, sending the flames a few feet higher into the air. (What was in that glass, kerosene?)

Russ and I calmly kept eating and watching. Two other chefs decided to try and douse it with a tablecloth, which they yanked off a table devoted to breads, sending hundreds of biscuits, rolls and baguettes soaring into the air.

“That was dope,” Russ commented.

The tablecloth didn’t work, and the fire continued growing. I got some more potatoes and settled back in to see what would happen. While all the chefs kept sprinting over to battle the blaze, someone knocked the tremendous paella frying pan onto the plastic-covered floor, and the awful smell of burning plastic began filling the air. Finally someone managed to put the thing out, and everyone broke into applause.

It was more entertaining than the Charles and Kenny game, I know that much.

BEST OVERHEARD LINE AT A PARTY
Phoenix, 2009 Late one night at one of the parties, I needed to hit the bathroom. I walked down a hallway and noticed the women’s restroom was closed off so the custodial staff could clean it. I turned the corner to the men’s room and saw two ladies entering the restroom. The men’s restroom. Hmm.

I wasn’t sure how to react. Should I wait patiently? Should I barge in and perhaps catch these two ladies in the midst of something unseemly?

Being a Southern gentleman at heart, I waited. So I stood there in the hall, alone, patiently wondering what in the world was happening, when two other guys came walking up.

“Is there a line?” one of them asked me.

“I guess,” I said. “Actually, two girls just went in there and, well, I thought I’d at least give them a few minutes before barging in.”

“Eff that,” one of these fine young men responded. He pushed open the door slightly and all three of us stuck our heads in the door. One of the girls was standing just inside the door, I guess on guard duty. The other girl was in the toilet stall, on her knees, facing the toilet.

“Hurry up,” yelled the girl on guard, noticing us. “Just go ahead and throw up. My house is only 15 minutes away. Throw up now and then we’ll be at my place in no time.”

And from inside the toilet stall we heard, “I know how to throw up — I was bulimic for four years, b*tch!”

BEST STORY FROM TIM DUNCAN
Houston, 2006We were at an adidas photoshoot and ended up hanging out with Tim for a while. I asked Tim about the Spurs game in Jersey two weeks before All-Star, when Tim had the runs and kept sprinting back and forth to the bathroom. When he was on the court, Russ and I saw him wipe his face with his jersey and noticed two weird things on his chest, white sticker-looking things that looked almost like battery cable connectors or something. Timmy didn’t know a lot about them, but he said they’re some kind of cutting edge “nanotechnology” things that put chemicals or vitamins or something like that into your system and, in theory, should help you play better and be healthier.

Duncan said when the Spurs were in Philly a few days earlier, Chris Webber noticed them during the game and asked him if he was wearing nicotine patches.

WORST AIRPORT TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT
Vegas, 2007The Monday morning after All-Star is traditionally the worst time to try and catch a flight, because everyone in the city is leaving within a two-hour window. On Monday morning in Houston in 2006, the airport was a mess, but we bumped into Josh Smith and a few Hawks, who were on a commercial flight out to their next game, and managed to get through a secret security game and skirt any problems. Vegas was rough, though. After a late Sunday night at the blackjack tables, I fell into my bed around 6:00 a.m. and woke two hours late to pack my bags. The SLAM fam met up in the lobby of the MGM at 9:30 a.m. (I don’t understand why, but the lobby of the MGM always smells overwhelmingly like liquid soap.) The taxi line was completely manageable, and before long we were on the way to the airport. Our driver was coherent and sensible and only mildly offensive, a rarity among Vegas cabbies.

Arriving at the airport, he warned us it was worse than anything he’d ever seen. Before we could process his words, we noticed people: all over the place, in lines, standing around, angry and frustrated. Several lines of people stretched hundreds of yards from the domestic terminal to the international terminal. Nobody seemed to have any idea what was going on.

Ben and I dropped our bags to the ground and sat down to begin planning alternate escape routes, including renting a car to drive to L.A. and flying from there. Then Khalid magically divined which line was the America West line, so we hopped in there, and maybe an hour later found ourselves ticketed and ready to roll.

BEST PREFACE TO AN ANSWER AT A PRESS CONFERENCE
Houston, 2006I’d been invited to a secret brunch meeting with David Stern, and someone asked him about the initial reactions to the then-recent dress code. He prefaced his answer by saying, “As I step gently on the land mines of culture and race, here goes…” Probably my favorite sentence of the weekend.

BEST OVERHEARD ENTERTAINER INTERACTION
Philadelphia, 2002During a break at All-Star Saturday night in 2002, Hall & Oates got dusted off long enough to play a set of their greatest hits. Both of them. Afterward, I ran into the duo in the tunnel below the arena, where all the interesting action was taking place. One person chirped “Nice job!” to the blonde guy from Hall & Oates, who responded, “Yeah, right.”

WORST AIRPORT CELEBRITY INTERACTION
Atlanta, 2003On Friday morning, by 6:45 AM, as I stood around outside my apartment waiting for Russ to roll through and pick me up so we could fly out to Atlanta, the snow was piled in the streets, getting gully in the gutters. We still made it out to LaGuardia pretty quickly. We’d been in line for maybe ten minutes when Shandon Anderson came rolling in, wearing a beige sweatsuit, a plain baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. He hustled to the first class line, where he settled in behind Craig Sager and Danny Ainge, who was wearing a colorful McDonald’s Open 1993 leather jacket with a huge Phoenix Suns logo on the back, the orange collar turned up. At least Ainge wasn’t trying to draw any attention to himself.

As we hit the security checkpoint, Ainge, who has no idea who I am, suddenly cut me off.

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly, but still not stopping to let me back in ahead of him.

“You should’ve said, ‘Tree Rollins wasn’t,’” Russ noted.

BEST RASHEED WALLACE SIGHTING
Washington, 2001Around 1:00 a.m. on Thursday night/Friday morning in D.C., Russ, Ryan and I left an And 1 party and walked over to the Grand Hyatt, where the players were staying, to hook up with our dude Chris Palmer from ESPN. Palmer was late, so Russ, Ryan and I grabbed a seat in the lobby and were hanging there, when Rasheed Wallace came strolling down the escalator with his posse; they quickly ducked into the lobby bathroom.

I had written the cover story on Sheed in the previous issue of SLAM, calling him out on his mad scientist behavior while pointing out that he’s also allowed to act however he’d like to. I hadn’t seen him since that issue dropped, and I was a little concerned with how he’d react. When they emerged, Sheed spotted me and said,

“The story was cool,” giving us the official thumbs up. I exhaled.

We were then introduced to one of Rasheed’s friends named Perv, who also claimed to have liked the article.

We didn’t get a chance to ask him what Perv was short for, though we had an idea.

WORST DUNK CONTEST ARTIFACT
WASHINGTON, 2001Does anyone remember the 2001 Dunk Contest? Of course you don’t, because it was terrible and boring. By far the funniest moment was when Baron Davis tried to dunk while blindfolded with a headband. He ran up, jumped into the air, windmilled the ball and slammed it home — except he missed the rim by about three feet.

After the dunk contest, Baron gave me his headband, and it had two small eyeholes cut into it. Not big enough, apparently.

MOST SURPRISINGLY GOOD PARTY
Houston, 2006On Saturday night, after the dunk contest wound down, we had a few choices for our next step. NBA International was having a Latin Party somewhere downtown, and a bunch of writers were planning to hit that. The Player’s Association was having their annual bash, but that ends up being the place for people who don’t really know what’s going on, people who figure, Hey, the players are having a party, let’s go! And then everyone shows up and it’s a big mess. (I heard the fire marshall shut it down by midnight this year.) But I had something else planned. Last week when I was in LA, I went to lunch with some guys who work with a few companies, one of them being T-Mobile, and they’d been after me to hit the T-Mobile party that night.

So when everyone else scattered, the SLAM crew and a couple of guys from SI.com (spearheaded by former SLAMonline correspondent Arash Markazi) headed over to a parking lot a few blocks from the Toyota Center. A tremendous tent had been erected, and when we got there there was a line from the entrance going down the street and around the corner. I got on the cell, and within five minutes we’d all been escorted through a back entrance inside the huge tent, which was all white inside: carpets, couches, walls, open bars, everything. Magenta lights made everything the color of a T-Mobile ad.

A few lovely ladies wearing NBA jerseys were scattered about inside, and waiters and waitresses passed around food and drinks. We got there around 10:00 PM, and by 10:30, Travis Barker (from Blink-182) and DJ AM were on stage. AM, best known for being engaged to Nicole Richie, was playing every Biggie song ever recorded, and Barker was playing drums along with him. Not really that exciting, though many of the people in the audience seemed to be enjoying it.

At 11:30, Pharrell trotted out on stage. I’m not much of a Neptunes fan, but he put on a good show, working the crowd really well, and his songs sound much better in a small club (or tent) than they do on FM radio. The best thing about the party was that they were tight on the guest list. We all got in, and apparently every woman in Houston who looked like a stripper got in, but that was it. The tent would probably have held about 500 people, but it seemed like they were keeping it at a steady 300. It was open enough that when Pharrell came out, I was able to walk right up to the stage and take a picture.

Around midnight, Slim Thug came out and joined Pharrell, and together they ran through a bunch of Houston hits, capping it off with “Still Tippin’.”

Then Snoop Dogg walked on stage, and they did all of Snoop’s latest hits. When they got around to “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” I thought the roof was going to come off the place. While Snoop was performing, Bishop Don Magic Juan was making the rounds through the crowd. A Brazilian girl working at the party came over to me and Ryan and asked us who the Bishop was. I’d never had to explain what a pimp actually was or is before, and it’s pretty ridiculous to hear yourself saying, “He buys and sells, um, women. Or he used to, at least. But now he’s a reverend, so…”

And then there was Arash. In his SI.com story about that night, he mentioned a bartender telling a girl that Arash was a director, then he claimed that I helped perpetrate the whole thing. Let’s just say that if Arash embellished everything he writes as well as he embellished that story, we’ll be calling him Jayson Blair by now.

My actual contribution to the story was when Arash was telling her about how he often has actresses read for parts, and I said, “Yeah, didn’t you meet your wife at a reading?” (Arash isn’t married, by the way.)

We were still there just after 2:00 a.m., when the lights flicked on and the party closed down. Everyone stumbled outside, and a guy leaning against a plastic fence a few feet away from us went crashing through it. Two other guys got into a shoving match, came close to blows, then shook hands and made up.

Khalid said, “Why don’t white guys ever fight? I hate you guys.”

All in all, it was the best party of the weekend, and probably the closest I’ll ever come to being in a Girls Gone Wild video. And as a loyal T-Mobile Sidekick user, I once again give it my full endorsement.

BEST OVERALL PARTY EXPERIENCE
Vegas, 2007The 2007 All-Star Game in Vegas has gone down in history as a mess, one of the worst All-Star experience ever, though I couldn’t disagree more; it was by far the most fun I’ve ever had at an All-Star Weekend. And the most fun was on Saturday night. To sum it up, what follows is the post I posted on Sunday morning.

I’m not sure I should even be doing this. I’m working on a combined 150 minutes of sleep over the last two days. I hate lights, fresh air, water, fruits and vegetables. All-Star Weekend in Vegas is turning out to be both remarkable and outrageous. I’ll do my best to catch you up on Saturday night’s doings.

After the Dunk Contest, the SLAM Crew headed back to our hotel, where we parted ways with Khalid (he was on some secret mission). Ben, Sam and I dropped off our bags, changed into some presentable clothes and rolled out to the Venetian Hotel and Casino for the Steve Nash/GQ party.

The Venetian is loosely based on the city of Venice, Italy, although this is a very loose interpretation. For instance, instead of dozens of canals running in between ancient crumbling buildings, the Venetian has one canal that runs through a mall. They have gondola rides available, and gondoliers wearing white and black striped shirts. Also, nobody was riding the gondolas.

A bunch of people were massed together in a random corner. We investigated and discovered they were all hoping to get a glimpse of Jay-Z, who I guess was hanging out under a stairwell or something.

We finally found the V Bar, which was hosting the shindig. When we arrived it wasn’t very full, but we did see Matt Bonner and Pat Garrity standing around outside; we assumed they were looking for the white player’s party. They never did come into Nash’s party, but before long Nash arrived and then Kevin Garnett showed up with a crew that included Rashad McCants and Jawad Williams.

Nash and KG each had VIP areas set aside for them, but neither of them hid in their areas, instead moving freely around the small club, shaking hands and just acting like regular people. Andrea Bargnani also showed up, along with Darrick Martin, representing Canada and Raptors.

A DJ was playing some great old school hip-hop, from Brand Nubian to Poor Righteous Teachers, and before long KG couldn’t help himself: The Big Ticket staked out a spot right in front of the DJ table and started dancing, mouthing along to every lyric. An hour later, KG finally took a seat, drenched with sweat. Soon after, KG headed out, and by 1:30 we were gone, too. Nash was still there when we left, making the rounds, having fun.

We took the monorail back to our hotel and arrived by 2:00 a.m. Ben headed out to meet a buddy at the poker tables, and Sam and I were thinking about getting seats at a blackjack table when a friend sent me this text message:

Palms. Playboy Tower. Goooood. Shaq here. Wanna come thru?

This posed a serious problem. Should we play blackjack for an hour then get some much-needed sleep? Or should we do Vegas things and hit the Palms and get no sleep?

Minutes later, we were in a mile-long cab line outside our hotel. As we waited, we saw a guy bring out a huge, clear ice bucket filled with what appeared to be orange juice. The guy then produced three bottles of champagne and poured them into the bucket, creating an industrial sized Mimosa. He passed out dozens of straws and, inexplicably, women were drinking from it. Yuck.

After a 45-minute wait, we got into a cab with a driver who was eerily reminiscent of Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs. While Sam and I tried to concentrate on not being abducted, the driver went through some back roads and a parking lot and suddenly we were at the Palms.

Inside the Palms we bumped into Mark Jackson, who sent his love to the entire SLAM family. After a while wandering around, we found the entrance to the Playboy Towers and the club, which I think was called Moon, although don’t quote me on that. We were allegedly on “the list,” but when I squeezed my way to the front of the line and asked for the person with “the list,” I was told she was gone and to please move along. OK. I got on the phone, and minutes later our people came down from upstairs. After some wrangling, we were in.

After a quick elevator ride, we emerged into a Bret Easton Ellis novel. Lights were flashing. Women were dancing on furniture. We were invited up into a private area. Sam wandered off. I was escorted across the dance floor (where Mark Cuban was getting down) and out onto a huge open rooftop deck 50-something stories above the Vegas strip. It was nothing short of amazing, even moreso because it was like 4 in the morning and we were in Vegas and all of a sudden, we were singing “Baaaaaal-ling!” The whole thing redefined excess. And it was awesome.

A little over two hours later, after another hour-long wait for a cab, we walked back into our hotel. The clock ticked past 6:00 a.m. The sun was starting to rise, and people were stumbling around all over the place, coming home from long nights out on the town blowing off steam.

Got in the elevator and some dude muttered, “Man, I wish I could just click my heels and be back home.”

Understood. My throat was dry. My eyes were red. My voice was gone. I had to pee. I had to sleep.

But I had to be at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in less than four hours for breakfast with David Stern.

]]>http://www.slamonline.com/blogs/the-links/links-the-best-and-worst-of-all-stars-past/feed/54SLAMonlineYao Settling Into a Quiet Life of Team Ownershiphttp://www.slamonline.com/nba/yao-settling-into-a-quiet-life-of-team-ownership/
http://www.slamonline.com/nba/yao-settling-into-a-quiet-life-of-team-ownership/#commentsThu, 21 Jan 2010 15:30:01 +0000http://www.slamonline.com/online/?p=59927

If this whole playing basketball thing doesn’t work out, at least Ming will have something to fall back on: “Sidelined by a foot injury, Houston Rockets star Yao Ming says he’s finding a new kind of satisfaction as owner of his former Chinese team, the Shanghai Sharks. Yao bought out the financially troubled team’s former owners in July for an undisclosed sum in a bid to revive its fortunes. The club is presently fourth in the 17-team Chinese league, two points out of first place. ‘I bought the Sharks to give them a boost and do something on behalf of Chinese basketball,’ Yao said in an interview with the official Xinhua News Agency appearing in newspapers Thursday. ‘To be honest, they’ve played well this season, beyond my expectations, but we also see their deficiencies and need to toughen up in the coming seasons.”‘

People in China are reportedly psyched by this news, assuming Yao’s offspring will grow to be another tall ballplayer: “The wife of NBA centre Yao Ming is expecting their first child, sending netizens into a frenzy of hope for a new generation to lead China’s basketball team in the future. ‘The news that Ye Li is pregnant is true. Yao Ming and his wife would like to thank all those who are showing concern,’ Yao’s China-based spokesman Zhang Chi said. He declined to give further information, citing ‘the need for a relaxed environment’ for China’s most famous basketballing couple to complete ‘the most important thing in their lives’ … Ever since the 2.29-metre (seven-foot-six-inch) Yao married his 1.90-metre wife in 2007, speculation has run rampant as to when their first baby would be born, popular Internet portal Sina.com said. As both Yao and his wife were born in the 1980s and are only children, the couple will be allowed to give birth to two children under China’s recently relaxed “one-child” family planning policy, the report said. ‘We hope that Yao Ming and Ye Li will go further and raise more pillars of the next generation of Chinese basketball,’ it said. In a Sina.com online poll, 76 percent of more than 29,000 people voting said that Yao’s child was likely to grow taller than 2.05 metres, while 33 percent said the baby would grow taller than 2.20 metres.”

To all NBA owners, executives, coaches, players, team staff and League partners, as well as our new friend, Comrade Prokhorov, I’d like to begin by wishing you and yours the best during this holiday season.

I know the economy has been terrible in 2009, and the global economic meltdown has had a profound affect on many of us. (Not so much on me, though, because all my money is locked away somewhere the feds will never find it.) Attendance seems to be down, and our teams are being forced to be more and more creative to find new, untapped revenue streams. The New Jersey Nets, for instance, have managed to sell sponsorship on pretty everything attached to their franchise. While I ultimately had to cancel the Nets’ plan to allow fans to take turns as head coach in exchange for a nominal $25-per-quarter fee, I applaud their creativity and encourage all of our teams to think similarly outside the box.

As we move into the year 2010, if you’ll indulge me, I’d like to take this opportunity to reflect upon some of our accomplishments over the last decade.

When the 2000’s began, we were coming off the lockout that lasted into 1999. Unlike the way the baseball owners lost a postseason and made all their fans hate their sport as a result of their work stoppage, we were able to complete a shortened season and nearly managed to get the Knicks a championship. I’m still working on that one.

Over the last decade, the Spurs and the Lakers established themselves as the class of the League and made the Western Conference dominant. There was also a brief period there in the middle of the decade when the Pistons were really good; that was weird. More recently, we’ve seen a resurrection of the classic Lakers/Celtics rivalry, which has been exciting for everyone, particularly those of us who don’t have to keep going to Detroit in June for weeks at a time.

The influx of international players into the NBA during this decade is another hallmark of the era. Dirk Nowitzki was the MVP of the 2002 World Championships, and Yao Ming was the first pick in the same year. But perhaps no international player has had the impact that Steve Nash has had. Not only is he a two-time MVP, but… well, OK, that’s about the extent of his impact. Every time I see one of our amazing international athletes sprinting up or down the court, my heart swells with pride. (Also, I hear cash register sound effects in my brain. LOL!)

As you all know, we recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of the WNBA, which has been an unmitigated success, no matter how you look at it.

Quickly moving on, when the NBA’s long-secret research and development invented the internet back in the late ’90s, we had no idea what a fundamental change it would make in the way our sport was covered. While our fans used to have to wait and read updates in their local papers each day, the internet gave everyone instant information and allowed people all over the world to have a voice. For instance, this Whitaker kid over at SLAMonline was a thorn in my side every day for a very long time, joking that I was actually a robot. Very funny… hahahah… does not compute… akjehgfkabegaekljfnal … 011 0111000 00 11111 0010101 101100011 110101011.

[REBOOT]

Sorry. It was during the last decade that we signed television deals with ABC/ESPN and Turner Sports. At the time, people were very critical of us not signing a major network television deal and instead casting our fates mostly with cable, but it was very obvious that cable was the wave of the future. It was also very obvious that when you’re being offered billions of dollars, you don’t turn it down, regardless who’s doing the offering.

And let’s not forget about the dress code. When we first announced that we were going to require our players to adhere to certain fashion rules, many critics said we were violating the rights of our employees to express themselves. Actually, what we were doing was violating their right to dress like slobs. We now have a League of very professional-looking young men, and the complaints are gone. Except for Rasheed Wallace, who won’t stop texting me and us lobbying me to allow “Tims,” whatever those are.

This isn’t to say the NBA hasn’t had our missteps. In retrospect, the synthetic balls were probably a bad idea. I prefer to remember it as us being ahead of the curve of the Green movement, stressing renewable resources. Then again, we must concede that it was probably a bad idea to switch from the leather ball we’d used for sixty years to a ball that caused cuts to our player’s hands. A really bad idea.

And of course, there was the unfortunate incident in Detroit, when Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson charged into the stands and tragically went buck-wild on those Pistons fans. More recently, the Tim Donaghy scandal shocked and saddened everyone in the NBA family. I can’t speak for us all, but I never would have bet something like that could happen. After an exhaustive investigation, we determined that Donaghy was an isolated, rogue referee. As it turns out, the other referees don’t make bad calls in order to purposefully affect the outcome of games, they just aren’t very good at their jobs.

If I had to select one accomplishment of which I am most proud, it would have to be our establishment of NBA Cares, our global community outreach initiative that addresses important social issues such as education, youth and family development, and health and wellness. Most people know it for our commercials featuring the music of the edgy R&B artist John Legend. (I picked that song myself, BTW.)

Looking forward, I still believe that it’s imperative for us to continue expanding overseas, as well as for us to continue pushing our digital initiatives. With young players like Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade, Brandon Jennings and Tyreke Evans, the League is in great hands. I’m looking forward to the NCAA continuing to market John Wall for us before he comes to our League next year, and with so many of our teams more competitive than ever, the 2010 Playoffs should be ultra-exciting.

Also, once we make LeBron sign with the Knicks next summer, we’re all gonna be set.

Happy holidays!

THE STERNBOT

For real, happy holidays to you and yours from all of us here at SLAM. Thanks for making this an amazing decade for all of us, and catch you in 2010!–LW

A couple of months ago, when we sat down to start planning the 15th anniversary issue of SLAM, we knew we had to have David Stern involved in one way or another. Jordan, Kobe, AI and LeBron have been crucial to the development of basketball and, in turn, SLAM, over the last decade and a half. But David Stern has unquestionably been the most important figure in basketball over that period.

When I started here at SLAM, about eight years ago, we were still very much considered the black sheep of the NBA media horde. Over the last decade, though, we’ve somehow proved ourselves, to the point where I now have a vote in the NBA’s official post-season awards and we’ve developed enough mutual trust and respect with the League to where we’re now able to actually get the Commissioner of the NBA on the phone from time to time.

So a few weeks ago — actually, it was the morning after Kanye went all “I’ma let you finish…” on Taylor Swift — I got David Stern on the phone (after a few scheduling snafus) to talk about how the NBA has grown over the SLAM era. For the full story, check out SLAM 133 on newsstands now. In the meantime, here are some excerpts from our conversation…

DAVID STERN: Hey there. I’m sorry I’ve been pushing you around today.

SLAM: (Laughs.) I’m used to it. Have the NBA offices been buzzing about Kanye and the VMAs all morning? The Video Music Awards? Big topic here at the SLAM office.

DS: I was watching the final of the [US Open] women’s tennis last night. So I was not watching the VMAs.

SLAM: Oh, okay.

DS: VMA? MVA?

SLAM: No. Video Music Awards.

DS: And Kanye West said she didn’t deserve it?

SLAM: He said that Beyonce had the best video of the decade, and he said he was happy for Taylor Swift to win. The problem was that he did it during the middle of her speech; he ran up and took the microphone out of her hand and did it.

DS: Hmm. Alright. So…ask me anything.

SLAM: Well, we’re working on the 15th anniversary issue of SLAM…

DS: Congratulations!

SLAM: Thank you. I hope that doesn’t make you feel old.

DS: No. There are many other things that make me feel old, the least of which is SLAM.

SLAM: Good. So I just wanted to talk to you about some of the stuff that’s happened over the last 15 years in the NBA, in basketball and in SLAM’s lifetime. Fifteen years ago the main international guys in the NBA were like Kukoc, Petrovic had been here and now there’s — I’m sure you probably know the number better than I do — and now it’s all over the place.

DS: Well, I guess what I would say that…I went back and asked my guys to look — in 1994, three international players were drafted, one in the first round. Yinka Dare, drafted in the first round at number 14. Andrei Fetisov was from, it says here, Serbia Montenegro. And Zeljko Rebraca — those players were both drafted in the second round. Just to give you an idea. And by 2009, we had in the first two rounds, 15 international players — six in the first round, two in the top 10.

SLAM: Was there a conscious effort the NBA made to expand that way or look for those guys, or was it just, There’s good players, let’s get ‘em?

DS: I would say that in the last 20 years or so, the pursuit of talent has increased from being a domestic pursuit to being a global pursuit. That’s true in medicine, that’s true in engineering, that’s true in management, that’s true in manufacturing, and that’s true in sports. And, in some ways, I’ve tried to make the point that we’re not the leaders in that. Soccer, when you look at the makeup of a winning team — whether it be Manchester United or AC Milan — and you look at the transfer of players, soccer is the most global of sports at the elite, professional level. And what has happened is that, through our colleges and actually our prep schools, truth be told, the number of players who are coming in to prep schools and colleges from around the world — I don’t keep the numbers — but that’s gone up dramatically. So the college coaches are out there. In fact, I think when they see a guy who’s too young for college they recommend him to prep schools nearby or some high school. Then the athletic shoe and apparel companies are signing athletes all over the world, and have their own lists and invite international campers into the summer camps that they run. And our teams have begun employing scouts, multiple international scouts all over the world. So this was just a global search for talent that has seen a huge influx in international players, and it’s likely to continue. I remember reading about, it must have been three or four months ago, that this was going to be the slowest international draft ever. And yet we wound up with 15 players in the first two rounds. I’m gonna leave Howard Beck out of it. I laughed when I read it; I laughed the night of the draft because the teams are way ahead of everybody else, as they should be, because they are looking for players who can help them. And to connect that back, that growth has come — SLAM was born two years after the Dream Team, which elevated basketball to a very high level of relevance in the Olympic movement, and then set the stage for NBA to be televised in what are now 215 countries and 41 different languages. So you wound up with the players who were drafted this year; they were just coming of age. You know, the Dream Team was 17 years ago, and then we began televising games and the like. So I can’t tell you precisely how old Hasheem Thabeet is, but he was busy growing up and watching — whether it’s Hakeem Olajuwon, or Dikembe Mutumbo or Michael Olowakondi, you name it — and that continues to cause the game to grow and causes to expand not just our international audience, but the number of youngsters who are playing the game and admiring their stars, and the internet is actually going to drive that even more.

SLAM: I’ve talked to so many guys, from Yao to Dirk to so many of those international guys now, who tell me about when they were growing up and they would stay up all night to watch these guys play. But now, as you said, the internet kind of makes it so it’s on-demand.

DS: It is on-demand. Through NBA League Pass Broadband, you can watch without a satellite dish or even a television connection, if you can get wireless. Luc Mbah a Moute was the first player from Basketball Without Borders who went back; you know, he had been a camper there. People aren’t focusing on Africa quite as much, but when you look at Luc and Mbenga and Mutumbo, obviously, and Hasheem and Mohammed Sene and DeSagana Diop—

SLAM: Steve Nash.

DS: That’s South Africa, OK. But we give him credit for Vancouver.

SLAM: (laughs) I know.

DS: It’s interesting: there’s Africa, there’s Eastern Europe, there’s Western Europe, Latin America and Asia which complement the US, but clearly the global growth has been very robust during SLAM’s ascendancy to its current high and lofty status.

SLAM: It might sound like you’re bragging, and you might be, but hasn’t the NBA kind of been the elite of that among the American professional sports leagues?

DS: You know, if you go underneath you will see that there were a set of circumstances with which we had nothing to do that favored international growth for us. The Dream Team and the Olympics in ’92 were a step forward that we were invited to join, and we did. But basketball has been an Olympic sports since 1936, and that was a built-in sort of magnet for kids to be playing our game. And so we took advantage of things — and there were always important pockets of basketball, years and years ago. It’s interesting, it was very much Eastern European; the European Championships were usually in Yugoslavia, Russia, whatever. Two European Championships ago, it had gone from the Warsaw Pact to NATO: Italy, France, Germany and Greece, which was fascinating to me. That means Eastern and Western Europe are now basketball growth prospects. And yes, I think television helps it, but we really were able to attach ourselves to an Olympic sport that started in 1936, when the Olympics first housed basketball. China, which was closed, entered a team.

SLAM: Right, I remember that basketball had been introduced because there were Western missionaries or something like that there…

DS: Yes. I think at the turn of the century, not this one but the last one, China was playing basketball. So we really were able to plug into a network that, although maybe not supercharged, was certainly functioning and focusing on our game. And then we just were — you know the growth of television was a huge accelerant for us because all of these new networks outside of the US were looking for programming, and so even if they weren’t the most widely distributed networks, it nevertheless gave us a place to show our TV. And so, yes, we did plug into that. It is true that, I think we’ve played — I don’t even know whether it’s here; I did this for another interview — since 1987, something like over 90 games in 21 different cities outside the United States. In other words, we started playing the McDonald’s championship in Rome I think in ’89 or whatever…

SLAM: I think before that, there was one in Moscow when the Hawks went over there.

DS: That’s right. That was ’88. I was there, it was fun. Moscow, Lithuania and in Soviet Georgia, Tbilisi. You know, that was before the break-up of the Soviet Union. We actually played a regular season game in Tokyo in, I want to say ’91, between the Suns and the Utah Jazz. And so we responded to that, but we did that with FIBA. Then when we come to this season, my travel schedule includes London on October 6th, for Bulls-Jazz; Taipei on October 8th, with Pacers-Nuggets; Beijing on October 11th, the same two teams. And then we have a game in Madrid where the Jazz are going to be playing Real Madrid. And we’ve sent a D-League select team with some legends to play in the Philippines and Korea. And we just got back from Basketball Without Borders, which we did this year in South Africa and Mexico. And we have a preseason game in Monterrey, Mexico.

SLAM: Looking forward, how does all of this play into what the NBA is now?

DS: I think what we’ve learned is that being on the ground in places demonstrates a link to our fans, that we’re serious about talking to them and being there for them. That’s a big deal. And so, we’re trying to do that in the most efficient way possible, to tie in with clinics, three-on-three tournaments, exhibition games, regular season games, sending cheerleading squads, you name it. And we don’t have to do it alone. A shoe company or a drink company or a book company might send LeBron on a tour [of] Paris, Beijing or whatever. Kobe signs a trading card deal or another deal and he’s on the move. And so we work with these companies and that’s good because, first of all, it puts us in the marketplaces, and it promotes the game, which is the most important thing. We encourage the growth and success of local leagues. Anything that is good for the game is ultimately good for us. And then we come in and try to do the business behind it — more TV arrangements or better TV arrangements; we try to deal with sponsors; we have multiple internet sites in different languages, and marketing partnerships and other events. And so there are multiple ways that sports leagues monetize their business, and we need to do that. But the good news is that it becomes sort of a virtuous circle, because then we get great players who come from these places, and then when they play, there’s local interest in their home towns and countries — when Omri Casspi kicks off the season in Sacramento I think there’s gonna be a line of people watching in Israel; the good news is it’s a West Coast game and they’re eight hours ahead of us, so, in a funny kind of way, instead of getting up at three in the morning, they can get up at six in the morning. It’s just kind of interesting. And you know that when Hasheem Thabeet kicks it off, there’s gonna be a fair rise of household viewing in Africa, and that’s very exciting for us. Our fans domestically respond in a very positive way to it because it shows them international game with one question: Do you have game?

SLAM: Yeah, and the local fans get the international players on their teams, which makes the teams better and strengthens local support.

DS: The fans love them, you know. They’re loyal; they think they’re from their cities. And actually you understand that. At the US Open yesterday, the fans were rooting for Kim Clijsters against Caroline Wozniacki, and Roger Federer against anybody. So a Belgian and a Swiss were the darlings of the tennis set, and that’s true of basketball as well.

SLAM: I’m gonna make an awkward segue here, but speaking of the US Open: After seeing Melanie Oudin, does seeing a 17-year-old being the darling of the sports world right now make you rethink the age limit, any of that stuff?

DS: Actually, I think she’s not allowed to appear in more than a certain number of events.

SLAM: I think you’re right.

DS: She’s limited. No, I don’t think so.

SLAM: Looking back now, the last 15 years, do you think globalization is the most important NBA development from the last 15 years?

DS: It hasn’t always been during that time because we were still in the process of continuing our growth. If you look at us, we moved into new buildings. When the Brooklyn building gets completed, every NBA team will be in a new or completely renovated building sine 1987. Much of that took place during the lifetime of SLAM.

SLAM: Yeah. Do you mean “if” the Brooklyn building gets completed?

DS: “When” the building gets completed.

SLAM: (laughs) Ok, I was just making sure.

DS: And, number two: We went through a growth in our television. The cable was surging, and most of our teams have these very robust local and regional cable deals which have been cemented. And on a network level, we got to a place where we are now just finishing the first year of an eight year television arrangement that sees us with ABC, ESPN and TNT.

SLAM: And you kinda took a hit for that, when the League signed that deal, about how it was gonna be on cable not one of the three major networks.

DS: Right. That was before ESPN signed Monday Night Football and the Bowl Championship Series, and TNT/TBS signed Major League Baseball and the Championship Series. Yeah, we took a lot of heat for that, but it was clearly the wave. So really, with new buildings, with robust television arrangements and with this current generation of spectacular stars and youngsters, augmented in very large measure by international players and, really, the current Hall of Famers who are not so young but are great—whether it’s Shaq or Tim Duncan or Kobe, etc.—we’re doing great domestically even in difficult times. I expect we’ll be playing to 90-percent capacity with excellent television arrangements. As a result, out growth would seem to be in the digital realm and in the international realm. And that’s what we see. Of course with key magazines covering our sport…

SLAM: (laughs) Of course! Do you have any advice or good wishes for SLAM before we go?

DS: I’m a reader, believe it or not. I actually have a subscription. And I think you have to maintain your irreverence and expand your online appetite.

The 6th Man: They couldn’t be more different. Yao Ming, the 7-5, 22-year-old rookie center is steady and deliberate, performing his shockingly complete array of post moves with all the flair of an assembly-line robot. Some of this is due to it being his first year in a new country, some is due to his being exhausted from playing competitive basketball continuously for over a year, some is probably just due to his being a rookie. He still gets stripped sometimes, still makes some simple mistakes, but that will pass.

And then there’s Steve Francis, the 6-3, 26-year-old veteran point guard. Steve plays the game like he has a severe case of streetball Tourette’s (thanks, Ryan)—he can’t seem to dribble the ball more than three or four feet before compulsively going through his legs or behind his back, or putting a Rafer-esque skip in his step.

So different, but so similar. Don’t forget that Yao Ming’s stunning success in a new country comes in part because Steve Francis refused to go to one. (You remember Steve got drafted by Vancouver, right?) And while Yao appeared everywhere through the first half of his rookie season—TV commercials, nationally televised games, magazine covers—Steve was nowhere to be found. Funny, considering the one-time No. 2 pick, finally freed from the paralyzing headaches that plagued him all last season, was putting up MVP-type numbers. But the emergence of Yao seemed to cause a strange case of tunnel vision amongst basketball folk when it came to coverage. All this for a guy who may not even end up being Rookie of the Year.

It’s cool, though. If all those other publications want to focus on the big guy instead of the big picture, that’s their problem. After all, that’s why we’re here. And when the Rockets win a championship someday, when Yao Ming is the Last Real Center Alive, when the Dynasty becomes a reality, when the Franchise leads the franchise all the way to the rings, you can remember where you saw it first.

Peace,

Russ Bengtson

P.S. A big, huge, 7-5 (or is he 7-6?) thanks to Team Yao and Nelson at the Rockets for all their help in getting this thing done.

Houston, presumably in an effort to rekindle memories of past glory, is going old school with their new duds: “The red color is not quite the same as their other jerseys and the fabric has a different look and feel. Rockets center Yao Ming likes the Rockets new alternate uniform. ‘That looks like an old school uniform, but I like it,’ Yao said. ‘The color and the style and also the material, it feels very good. Sorry I can’t wear it this year, but I can’t wait for next season.”‘

To paraphrase the immortal Phife Dawg, “go get yourself some toilet paper ‘cause this draft year is butt.” Excuse the toilet humor and the tasteless pun, but this doesn’t mean that the talent level of the 2002 draft was crappy. On the contrary, it contained franchise-altering talent. But all of this talent came with a caveat. Yao Ming’s size and skill level combination is unheard of but he can’t stay healthy and might be done for good. Jay Williams had a promising rookie season for Chicago but his motorcycle (and his hoops career) crashed at age 22. Amar’e Stoudemire is one of the most offensively explosive big men the League has seen in years but he can’t play defense and is snakebitten with injuries.

So, now you see why the 2002 Draft was the year of the “but.” Feel free to insert your own lower-extremity joke here.

Yao Ming has been the impact player (both on the court and in the financial ledgers) that the Rockets and the NBA had hoped for. But he missed an average of 23 games per season (not including playoffs) over the past four years and his latest injury will keep him out at the very least all of next season. Time for Houston to cut their losses.

Concerns over Stoudemire’s inability to stick at one high school and unstable family life allowed him to slide to the Suns at pick No. 9. While he hasn’t shown the ability to dominate on the defensive end, his offensive talents are among the best the NBA has seen in years. Jay Williams, meanwhile, enjoyed riding motorcycles.

Guys that can get you 20 and 10 aren’t normally around at pick no. 34, but Carlos Boozer was for Cleveland in 2002. Unfortunately they couldn’t keep him around. Meanwhile, Mikey Jr. combined with Jay Williams for back-to-back Duke busts.

Caron Butler is about as well rounded as you can get – he’s third in the 2002 draft class in career scoring, fifth in rebounding and first in assists. Unfortunately the Wizards injury malaise is contagious, and he has missed a minimum of 15 games per season over the past three years.

The Dirk Nowitzki Curse strikes—not all 7-0 Europeans are built the same. While Tskitishvili was an enormous flop, Tayshaun Prince was a steal at pick No. 23 for Detroit. A both end of the floor threat, his stick man physique has been surprisingly durable—he hasn’t missed a game in the past six years.

Health problems derailed Wagner’s promising career before he was barely in his twenties. Scola is the total opposite—after starring overseas for years he is finally getting the chance to do the same in the NBA in his late twenties.

After serious health and injury problems, the man formerly known as Nene Hilario had a career year last season in Denver—something the Nuggets will need again from him this upcoming season if they plan on competing out west.

John Salmons appears to be peaking as he creeps toward his 30th birthday. If he keeps it up, the next time this draft class gets remixed he’ll find his name closer to the top.
Barely missed the Top 10 Remix: Nenad Krstic, Ronald Murray, Chris Wilcox, Roger Mason.

Of course it’s Rick’s fault for utilizing Yao in all of those games the Rockets played in! Why no one else had thought of this is beyond me: “You can’t say that it’s because Yao Ming came back to China and played a few games in the Olympics that he went out and injured himself,’ Cui said, citing reports in the US press. ‘It was because he played in over 100 games in a row in the NBA… in using Yao, the Houston head coach played him too much, so he was injured.”‘

Ming doesn’t need to play hoops to help U.S.-China relations; he just has to open his mouth: “Besides having a meet-and-greet with the WNBA champion Detroit Shock at the White House yesterday, Obama also quoted Yao Ming when he addressed the first China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue. Talking about the importance of the two nations cooperating, Obama said, ‘I have learned from the words of Yao Ming, who said, ‘No matter whether you are new or an old team member, you need time to adjust to one another.’ Well, through the constructive meetings that we’ve already had, and through this dialogue, I’m confident that we will meet Yao’s standard.”‘

Don’t get your hopes up, though, Rockets fans. He’s still out for the 2009-’10 campaign: “Houston Rockets center Yao Ming underwent successful surgery this morning to repair the broken bone in his left foot. The surgery, which was performed by Rockets Team Physician Dr. Tom Clanton with assistance by Dr. Bill McGarvey at the Memorial Hermann Sports Medicine Institute located in Houston, TX, involved a bone graft in the tarsal navicular bone as well as additional procedures to change the alignment of his foot in order to reduce stress on the repaired bone. Yao is expected to remain hospitalized for several days. While no timetable has been set for his return to action, Yao is expected to be available for the team’s training camp in 2010.”

Ming isn’t ready to hang up his sneakers just yet: “Yao deflected suggestions the purchase [of the Shanghai Sharks] brought him one step closer to preparing for early retirement since he broke his left foot in early May. He is still consulting with doctors about the hairline fracture that may sideline him indefinitely, Xinhua reported. ‘I do not have any plans to retire and my doctors and I are very confident that I can fully recover and return to the stadium; the team and the acquisition has nothing to do with my injury,’ Yao said.”

Yao is now the proud owner of the Shanghai Sharks: “Houston Rockets center Yao Ming has purchased his financially troubled former club the Shanghai Sharks, Chinese media reported on Thursday…’I grew up in the city and became a professional player in this team, so I hope I can do something to help,’ Yao was quoted as saying on Shanghai TV. The Sharks shared in the worst deficit in 14 years of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) last year and were in danger of failing to start the new season in November because of their dire finances.”

Some guy named David Andersen will be in charge of filling the void left by Yao Ming. Good luck with all of that, Dave: “Yao? Yao? Yao? Well, no. David Andersen is not the Australian Yao Ming. He could, however, be the Australian Brad Miller. And he should play for the Rockets more than enough to bring that cheer – Aussie. Aussie. Aussie. Oi. Oi. Oi. – to Toyota Center. As soon as he signs a contract, which should not take a day or two, he will be penciled in as the Rockets new starting center.”

This is just depressing: “The combination was supposed to deliver a championship to Houston. It hasn’t. It won’t. The Rockets asked for and received a disabled player exception — the NBA’s version of short-term disability from the salary cap — allowing the team to sign Trevor Ariza, which it did on Wednesday, because Yao is not expected to be able to play next season due to a broken bone in his left foot. McGrady, recovering from microfracture surgery on his left knee, has one year left on his contract. The Rockets are listening to trade offers and quite likely will move McGrady by next season’s trade deadline, which is probably about the time he will be ready to return to action.”

The news, though not entirely shocking (all things considered), hit Rockets fans like a punch to the gut. The reality is as follows: Yao Ming’s career could be done, or at the very least, gravely affected. So, now what?

Well, you begin to plan for a future whose only certainty is its unpredictability. The lone consolation, as the Houston Chronicle details, may be that the Rockets are in fine position to make noise some time down the line:

If you’re looking for good news, this is it. No team is better positioned to withstand the loss of a Yao Ming than the Rockets.They may not have a single major contract obligation after next season when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Bosh and other premier players are set to be free agents.

Keeping that financial flexibility suddenly is [GM Daryl] Morey’s first priority during a nightmarish offseason. If he can trade for a player worth a long-term investment, he’ll do it. Otherwise, we’ll see a small, fast, scrappy team next season…They’ve got a good, young nucleus of players, and a year from now, they’ll have the money to make an impact acquisition. On a sad, confusing, frustrating day, those things will have to be enough.

Those are not exactly the kind of words that get a fanbase fired up for an upcoming season.

For Rockets supporters — people who have by now grown accustomed to all kinds of heartbreak — that’s as good as it gets. Alas.

Exactly how avid are Houston’s fans? Take a quick look at their forums when big news hits. Hot topics finish with more pages than the collected works of John Updike. It’s impossible to read all the reactions, but for something like this, you know from the start…

After re-aggravating a hairline fracture on the top of his left foot in Game 3 against the Lakers, Yao has rested the injury. But a bone scan last week revealed the bad news — the foot was not healing after two months of immobilization.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports sees that bad news and dishes out worse:

For now, the Rockets have privately told league peers it could be a full season before Yao might be able to return to basketball. Multiple league executives, officials close to Yao and two doctors with knowledge of the diagnoses are describing a troubling, re-fracture of his navicular bone. Three pins were inserted a year ago, but the foot cracked in the playoffs and isn’t healing.

“It sounds like he’s missing most of next season, if not the entire 82 games,” one league executive who has had recent discussions with the Houston front office told Yahoo! Sports. “That’s all that [the Rockets] will concede quietly, but they know it’s probably much worse.”

The fact of the matter is Yao’s been treated like a commodity for most of his athletic career. Every summer, China plays Yao in various tournaments including the Olympics and the Asia Games.

In fact, it’s amazing Yao’s 7-6, 320-pound frame has held up this long, and his body has not succumbed to the usual drawbacks we’ve seen time and time again in abnormally tall players. But the signs have become all too clear. Yao’s early exit after Game 3 of the Western Conference semis marked his third consecutive season ending with a fractured bone.

The Rockets say a new course of action will be recommended after he sees three more specialists this week. But odds are these doctors will give the same prescription: inaction… for a very long time.

This can’t be good for Rockets fans’ heart rates: “Nearly seven weeks after the Rockets were shocked by the injury that ended Yao Ming’s season, they were as stunned Wednesday to find it has not healed. A bone scan late Wednesday evening showed that the immobilization of Yao’s left foot has not healed the hairline fracture he suffered May 8 during the Rockets’ second-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers. A statement released by the team said Yao and his doctors will consider other treatment options. Those could include anything from wearing a cast, rather than the walking boot used since the injury, to surgery.”

Word on the street is that Cleveland’s Chinese minority owners want Yao, but he’s not so sure: “Rumors of a possible move to Cleveland have swirled since a group of Chinese investors signed an agreement last month with the Cavaliers to become minority owners. The move is expected to boost the team’s popularity and marketing opportunities in China, where Cleveland star LeBron James is very popular. ‘This is all an unknown,’ Yao said in the interview, a transcript of which was posted online Friday. ‘I’ve already been with Houston for such a long time, I still have much affection for this team,’ he said. ‘Moreover, this past season we were very successful, and that let me see some hope.’ Cleveland has not publicly expressed interest in Yao, who has one guaranteed year left on his contract with Houston, including a player option for the 2010-11 season.”

So I think Stan Van Gundy finally just sent someone to double-team LeBron.

Just remember: Two years ago in the Conference Finals against Detroit, the Pistons were tied 2-2 with the Cavs, when LeBron took over in Game 5 and scored the last 25 points for Cleveland, including 29 of Cleveland’s last 30.

Then last night, in Game 5, LeBron brought the Cavs back from down 8 in the fourth to win. This included a run in the third and fourth where Bron either scored or assisted on 32 consecutive Cavs points. Again, LeBron scored or assisted on 32 consecutive Cavs points.

And just the heck of it, he scored one-on-one against Mickael Pietrus about five times in a row.

Bron finished with 37, 14 and 12, the first player to post at least 37, 14 and 12 in a Playoff game since Oscar Robertson in 1963.

(And in case you’re dumb and you had any doubts about LeBron’s strength, consider the play last night where Bron drove into Dwight Howard and they collided in mid-air for Howard’s sixth foul. Howard flew back about five feet on that play. Yes, Bron had a head of steam going, but if I ran into Dwight Howard going full speed, I’m pretty sure I’d hit the deck and Dwight wouldn’t move. LeBron went through Dwight Howard like he was Shawn Bradley.)

All day yesterday on Twitter, I saw a steady stream of notes and comments about LeBron—that he was choking, that he was overrated, that Kobe’s better than him. These were all wrong. I’ve been saying this the last few months but I think it bears repeating: LeBron is playing the most complete basketball we’ve seen in the NBA since Michael Jordan. Love him or hate him, he’s amazing.

Because the Lakers played so well in Game 5, and because the Lakers are more experienced and have a more talented team, one through twelve, than Denver, I’m going to pick Denver to win Game 6 tonight. The Lakers have been so maddeningly inconsistent that I have no idea what to expect tonight, other than they’ll probably do what I don’t expect them to do. I think they might win tonight, catch Denver off-guard and come out firing. So Denver will probably win by 20.

• Russ posted this on Twitter (via someone and retweeting someone, etcetera and so on), and it’s pretty great…

• Not much else to talk about today, except for this bright idea I had late last night. Next week we’ll be debuting the latest cover of SLAM, when we drop SLAM issue 130. Of course, I can’t talk about who the new cover of SLAM is going to feature. But I can talk about who is not going to be on the cover of SLAM 130.

So this morning I came up with a couple of mock rejected cover concepts for SLAM 130, and our creative director, Melissa Brennan, put these together for us.

Again, here are three covers of SLAM 130 that you will not see on newsstands. I’ll try to do this each month just before our new covers drop…

If the Rockets’ franchise player is depressed following his season-ending injury, he sure isn’t letting it show: “But this wasn’t the teary-eyed and downtrodden Yao who appeared at last year’s announcement that his season was over. This Yao was upbeat and optimistic, smiling and even cracking jokes a day after learning he’ll miss Houston’s playoff run with a hairline fracture in his left foot. ‘It’s frustrating, but you have to be positive because it is already better than last year,’ he said Sunday. ‘It’s already happened so I need to look forward and see what’s the next step.’ His sunny attitude was likely because this injury came in May, three months later than in 2008, and is less severe than that one, which required surgery. ‘I think I’ve been in harder situations before, much harder than this one,’ he said. ‘I believe that I can get through this one too.’”

]]>http://www.slamonline.com/news-rumors/other-news/yao-tries-to-remain-positive/feed/11Yao Out For Rest Of Playoffshttp://www.slamonline.com/news-rumors/top-news/yao-out-for-rest-of-playoffs/
http://www.slamonline.com/news-rumors/top-news/yao-out-for-rest-of-playoffs/#commentsSun, 10 May 2009 01:38:33 +0000http://slamonline.com/online/?p=33156

Last night, Yao Ming led the Houston Rockets past the Portland Trailblazers. It was the first Playoff series victory for Houston in 12 years, and afterward, all Yao could do was let out a giant sigh of relief.

For the first time in his NBA career, Yao Ming tasted Playoff success. The Houston Chronicle attempted to capture his feelings:

Yao Ming let out that long, gust-of-wind sigh he does when a question strikes him as worth a few extra moments of consideration to ponder an answer. This one, however, had something extra on it, producing enough breeze to fly a kite. His sigh of relief was so pronounced, Ron Artest leaned into the microphone in front of him to mimic it. Yao was entitled. Yao wanted this so badly. He ached for it. Others might deny their desires. Few would risk revealing the pain. Yao left no doubt. When he tried to sleep, he couldn’t. When he did sleep, he dreamed of game plans and techniques.

Yao was part of the last stretch of first-round disappointments, and very much the face and foundation of the franchise. So when the playoff losing streak was finally over, Yao felt a sense of relief he could not describe. “Yao, it means a lot,” Adelman said. “He’s been through things the team has had. He’s been through two seven-game series. You just have to keep persevering.”

Being one of the most likeable athletes on the planet, it’s nearly impossible not to feel happy for Yao this morning (unless, of course, you’re a Blazers fan.)